Now, there are some core principles from the testimony of these witnesses that can be applied in our own lives in this dispensation right now. If you're a believer, stand up for Christ, no matter how rejected, no matter how ignored you may be.
Secondly, make Christ known in your world. You have the only hope for a world that's desperately trying to drown out their sorrow and fear with a party. So they move from one noisy thing to the next. Even now, they're attempting to silence the pounding of their hearts in fear over the future of the world. Prophets like Moses, Elijah and John the Baptist aren't here anymore. They're not walking the streets of New York City or your city proclaiming the words of God or performing miracles.
However, that doesn't mean that the days of prophets are over. In the last days, God will send two men to prophesy of His coming judgment. Their message, along with their miracles, will take the whole world by surprise. Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. Today, Stephen takes you to Revelation 11 and introduces you to these two witnesses.
Keep listening to learn more. These two witnesses are indestructible. They're fearless at this point in time, supernaturally testifying to the truth of God's word in the coming of the Messiah. And by the way, again, all of the focus, like a laser beam, is on Jerusalem, is on the people of God as it focuses its laser beam. That's why some who are millennialists and post-tribulationalists just understand the Jewishness of this book.
And apart from that, it's very difficult to understand. But as we understand, the focus is on Israel, redeeming it, calling back the Jews to God. This makes a lot of sense about this temple. It makes a lot of sense about the Jewish evangelists. It makes a lot of sense about these Old Testament prophet-like witnesses who have incredible power. Those post-tribulationalists and historic pre-millennials who believe the church is going to go through this tribulation have a great deal of trouble with chapter 11.
In fact, some of them that I read said this is so perplexing to us because why? They can't get the church in here. It's hard to somehow wedge the church into the events of chapter 11. But a non-dispensational, non-literal attempt to understand and expand Revelation, it gets stumped here.
Why? You can't get the church in here. And I believe it's very simple. The church is gone. The promise of Revelation 3 to the churches, they've been taken away from the hour of wrath or tribulation. The letters to the Thessalonians are going to go up and then this is going to happen, I believe has already happened. And so you have a literal temple that's measured with literal Jewish worshipers marked out as God's statement of possession.
The Gentiles are excluded, which poses a great problem in this vision because the church would include Gentiles and Jews. Furthermore, you have a literal temple mount still in existence, a literal Jewish remnant, a literal altar, a reference to prophetic olive trees and lamb stands and a literal text from Zechariah that's now applied. Furthermore, you have witnesses standing outside a temple in the literal city of Jerusalem calling Israel back to God. If the church is somehow represented here, what is meant by Jerusalem?
One author said, well it's any city, it's every city. No, it's clearly Jerusalem. And if the two witnesses, post-tribulationalists and historic primalinist belief, symbolize the ministry of the church during the tribulation or at any time in church history, well what's the church doing killing people with fire out of their mouths because they won't believe and they try to come against them? The church isn't called to kill people. The church is called to be killed. The church is not called to make people suffer. The church is called to suffer. And then if the witnesses are to be killed, as we'll see in a moment, taken up to heaven just as a symbol of the church, does that mean that all true Christians are going to be martyred?
Are they going to just lie in the street as we'll see, then to be resurrected and taken up only after having killed thousands of people who tried to come against them? No, just take this text at face value as you can the entire book of Revelation. You don't have to perform any set of gymnastics if the church is already raptured and the Jewish temple, which is temporary, is being measured out as God's special property. But there's another sidebar to the Jewishness of this scene and the fulfillment of these witnesses. It's the coming of this one that we believe is Elijah.
Think about it. That would make a lot of sense to Jews, not much sense to those of us. For centuries now, the Orthodox Jews celebrate Passover in their homes and they always put out an extra plate and an extra chair for whom? Elijah had a Jewish gal who had come to faith in Christ and she says, I well remember this. Every time we celebrated as a family, little kids would be sent to the door and we'd open the door and say, Elijah, are you there? And if Elijah's there, he can come in and sit out of the seat they have prepared and eat the meal with them.
Well, why do they do that? Because they are literally believing in a literal fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy that Elijah will come preceding the return of their Messiah. Now some would say, well, John the Baptist fulfilled that. No, unless John the Baptist didn't know because John the Baptist was asked in John 1.21, are you Elijah?
And he said, no, I'm not. He came in the spirit of Elijah, but he wasn't Elijah. He came preparing the way for the first advent of the Messiah. There will be Elijah who will come prior to the second advent when the Messiah will come back and call Israel to himself and we the bride will come with him. Now back to our text where you discover the Antichrist is allowed to move by God against these two witnesses and God allows them to be put to death.
Would you notice though, it's only after they have finished their God-ordained, not determined time of ministry which is three and a half years. Verse 7, when they had finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, overcome them and kill them. In other words, the demonically empowered Antichrist, the beast, and we'll look at him later in future studies, will be allowed to kill these two witnesses. Look at verse 8. And their dead bodies, these are literal bodies that are literally dead, will lie in a literal street of the great city.
Which city is this? Well, it's mystically called Sodom and Egypt where also the Lord was crucified. So we know it's Jerusalem, but here it says that they've received a couple of nicknames.
They're called Sodom, more than likely because of their sexual immorality, and it's called Egypt, more than likely because of its oppression of God's people. Now notice verse 9. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations, that is everybody on the planet, will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.
Now the greatest insult, friends, that you could do to a deceased is to withhold burial, to leave them in the open wherever they've fallen, wherever they have been killed, leave them to openly decay. And this text here says that the world is going to watch them lying on the street there in Jerusalem for three and a half days as their bodies decompose. In fact, the present act of participle, we're beholding them, means the world is going to continually watch. They're so intrigued, in fact, they're going to rejoice as we'll see in a minute, but skeptics have long scoffed. In fact, go back about 20 years and all the way back, have scoffed at this prophecy.
There's no way that that could literally be true, which means everything else is not literally true. But that was before satellites and the internet in our lifetime, which would allow messages and pictures to be transmitted. You can imagine cameras posted from every news organization on the planet and the images of this scene being transmitted from Jerusalem to Tokyo to New York to Beijing to South Africa to Paris, literally around the world. And what happens when the world sees these two men that they have come to hate because of the drought they brought on, because of the plagues they brought, because of their testimony against the antichrist and the coming doom of the world, they are going to do what?
Look at the text. They're going to start rejoicing. Verse 10, and those who dwell on the earth, a phrase again for earth dwellers, unbelievers, will rejoice over them and celebrate and they will send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell upon the earth. I mean, this is the antichrist's antichristmas. The party, the celebration, it's like nothing before. It literally will galvanize the human race into one giant celebration. They're going to send cards to each other. They're going to send presents to each other. They're going to celebrate. Look, can you believe it? Our leader has killed those two pests, those two witnesses.
They're finally dead. Let's celebrate. This is what one author called effectively the world's final Mardi Gras.
It reveals the depth of unbelief and perversion and immorality and the confirmed hatred of the gospel and the glory of God and his witness on earth. But the party doesn't last very long, does it? As the cameras are trained on these two corpses lying out in the open on the city street, the world continually watches as they celebrate.
It's on every screen everywhere on the planet. Suddenly, pallid skin turns rosy. A finger twitches. A leg straightens out. The partying stops.
People press forward toward the screens. Their little packages fall to the ground and they watch as legs are straightened and then they see the witnesses perhaps blink and the lights of the camera sit up and stand up alive. That's the way to end the party and it ends. In fact, a voice, verse 12, booms out, come up here. Then they went up into heaven in a cloud and their enemies watched them go.
I'll bet they did as cameras zoomed in as long as they could. This isn't a picture, by the way, of the rapture of the church. The rapture, 1 Corinthians 15 says, takes place in the twinkling of an eye.
Just disappear. This is more like the ascension of Christ where the whole world will watch them as they ascend all the way up through the sky as far as they can see and then they disappear. And then God acts. The next verse tells us that he sends an earthquake and 7,000 people are killed. The Greek text for 7,000 people literally means the names of men.
That's an idiom or an expression for important people. More than likely, these are important people in the cabinet and coalition of the antichrist who die in that earthquake. The text also tells us in verse 13 that the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. By the way, this is the only reference to repentance following any disaster in the tribulation, more than likely from the thousands of Jews who've been pouring into Jerusalem, who've come to see the witnesses, those who are worshiping in that temporary naos, gathered around it perhaps, who see those witnesses come back to life and they say we've seen enough.
The Greek language, I would agree with those who say it's very clear that this is an expression of true, genuine repentance and belief. Now most of the world will still reject the testimony of these witnesses, but some will believe. There are some core principles from the testimony of these witnesses that can be applied in our own lives in this dispensation prior to the rapture of the church right now.
That is apart from the fire breathing part, which would be really interesting. Besides that, what can we learn and what can we apply? Well first of all, simply this, if you're a believer, stand up for Christ. No matter how rejected, no matter how ignored you may be, no matter how the world may party on in spite of your voice, the party's temporary.
It will be for those friends you have even now. It's true for them. In Revelation 11, it's true for us today. Secondly, make Christ known in your world.
Just make it known. You bear the truth. You have the answer. You have the only hope for a world that's desperately trying to drown out their sorrow and fear with a party.
So they move from one noisy thing to the next. Even now they're attempting to silence the pounding of their hearts in fear over the future of the world. Third, like these two witnesses, remember the issue is not the response of the world. The issue is our obedience to the word of God. We testify of him, whom we believe in, because he has accepted us. He's called us out of darkness into a marvelous light and we testify even if the world ignores us. Frankly, I believe that every Christian who stands for Christ, every Christian who is involved in some way in making Christ known in the world, every Christian who is willing to be obedient, there is no telling, there is just no telling now, the impact of your testimony. But let me encourage you, you have no idea who's watching you, but more are watching you than you know. There's no way to tally it up. Listen, the harvest doesn't end at the end of the service.
The harvest ends at the end of the age. So stay faithful to the Lord. A gentleman in our church sent me a clip of a sermon preached. It's gone around, perhaps some of you have seen it or heard of it. It's not captioned, but I recognize the voice of Stephen Ulford that I believe in this YouTube video is actually delivering this fascinating story, true story of a witness for Christ.
And I've tried to edit this thing down as much as I can. It's a long illustration and I've got to read all of it or you won't get the point, but a wonderful I believe encouraging and convicting testimony of one man who was faithful in being a witness for Christ. The story began at Crystal Palace Baptist Church in southern London where a man was visiting and he asked if he could come and be a part of the service and they were having a testimony meeting. At the end he said, could I share with you mine?
Of course they said yes. And the man said, I've just moved into this area from Sydney, Australia and just a few months ago I visited some relatives in Sydney and I was walking down George Street, busy thoroughfare, shopping district. And as I passed one shop a little white haired man stepped out in front of me, handed me a track and asked me, are you saved and if you died today would you go to heaven? The man said, I walked away but was dumbfounded.
Nobody had ever asked me that question before and on the flight all the way back to Heathrow in London I was puzzled as I read that little track. I called a friend who was a Christian and he told me how to accept Christ and I just wanted to share with you friends that I'm now a Christian. Of course the church was excited to hear this testimony of a man who would become a part of their church. That pastor of that church flew to Australia for a three day series in Adele Australia. During that series of meetings a woman came to him for some counseling and he of course wanted to know where she served with Christ and she said, well I used to live in Sydney and a couple of months ago I was doing some shopping on George Street and after doing some shopping I bumped into a little white haired man who gave me a track and asked me if I would go to heaven if I died and I took the track and walked away but I visited this church where you're speaking today knowing they believed the gospel that sounded familiar in that track and I came and asked the pastor about it and he led me to Christ. So twice in a few days this pastor had encountered someone impacted by this little white haired man on George Street. A few weeks later this pastor flew to Perth on the coast of Australia where he preached for an evangelical church there in Perth.
After one of the services the leading elder of the church took him out for dinner. While they were eating this pastor asked his fellow elder where he'd come to faith in Christ and the lay elder said well I grew up in this church until the age of 15, never made a commitment, left, came back and still not committed to Christ but I grew up to a place of influence here in this church. I was in Sydney three years ago on business when a little white haired man accosted me with a track and asked me if I was saved and on my way to heaven.
I tried to tell him that I was a Baptist elder in a Baptist church and this little man didn't care. I was so angry that when I arrived back in Perth I told our pastor what had happened and my pastor said to me you know frankly for years I wondered if you were ever truly born again. My pastor led me to genuine faith in Christ. This pastor then flew back, same pastor we're talking about here's all these stories, flew back to the UK, was speaking in the Lake District at a Christian conference and he was so excited about these three people and these three stories that he told those testimonies to his audience and after the meeting three pastors unknown to one another in this regard came up after the meeting and said they had all come to faith in Christ around 30 to 35 years ago respectively. After receiving from this same man on George Street a simple gospel track they'd walked away from him but later came to faith in Christ. This pastor was absolutely astounding. Sometime later this pastor flew to a Keswick convention in the Caribbean to a group of missionaries that had gathered. He was so excited about the fruit of this little man's testimony that he shared it with his audience and at the close of his teaching session several missionaries came up and said they had been saved 15 to 20 years ago respectively through the initial testimony of a little man on George Street passing out tracks. At the end of that meeting this pastor flew back by way of Georgia in the United States to speak at a naval chaplains convention. After three days of revving up a thousand chaplains about being a witness for Christ at the end of the conference the chaplain general took this pastor out to dinner and he asked the chaplain general how did you come to faith in Christ?
The chaplain general said well it really was miraculous. I was in the navy and living a terribly immoral profligate life. We were doing exercises in the South Pacific and we ended up on a brief leave in Sydney.
I partied downtown Sydney that night got on the wrong bus and it took me to George Street. As I got off the bus an elderly white haired man suddenly appeared I thought it was a ghost asked me sailor are you saved and if you died you know you'd go to heaven. That confrontation shocked me so much when I got back to my battleship I sought out my chaplain and he led me to Christ. I soon began to prepare for the ministry under my chaplains guidance and now here I am in charge of leading a thousand chaplains to share Christ with others. I'm not done.
Just take a breath. That same pastor six months later flew to India. By the way I would not want this pastor's schedule.
I want you to know that. He flew to India to a convention for five thousand missionaries in an eastern section of India. At the close of the meeting the Indian leader, humble Indian missionary took him home for a meal. The pastor asked him how did you a Hindu come to faith in Christ? The missionary pastor responded I was in a very privileged position working for the Indian diplomatic mission traveling the world.
One of my diplomatic trips took me to Sydney and one night I was doing some last minute shopping on George Street. I was loaded down with packages but a courteous man stepped in front of me and asked me do you know if you died today would you go to heaven and he handed me a tract. I thanked him but that disturbed me. When I got home to India I sought out my Hindu priest who didn't have an answer to what was suggested in the tract but he told me I ought to take my question to a local mission station nearby. Interesting a Hindu priest would tell him to do that. I did and that missionary led me to faith in Christ.
I left Hinduism and began to prepare for the ministry and now I'm leading thousands of missionaries and we're winning thousands of Hindus to faith in Christ. Eight months later this pastor of the Crystal Palace Baptist Church had meetings in Sydney. He asked the pastor there do you know a little man who hands out tracts on George Street. The pastor said sure I do he's done that for years his name is Mr. Genor but I don't believe he does it anymore because he's now very old and very frail. The visiting pastor said I've got to meet him.
His colleague said not a problem I know where he lives. Two nights later they went to this little apartment and knocked on the door and a tiny frail little man with a head of white hair answered the door. He invited them in sat them down and made them some tea serving them even though his hands trembled with age. As they sat together this London pastor told Mr. Genor all the encounters he had had over the past three years and all the Christians he'd met from England to Australia to India to America who'd come to faith in Christ because of his gospel witness on George Street. This little man sat there with tears that began to run down his cheeks. He said well my story is very simple I was in the Navy and I made a commitment that I would attempt once I got saved to share Christ with someone every day perhaps as many as ten a day if I could. Sometimes I couldn't do it I was sick or whatever I wasn't paranoid about it it was just my desire. Then when I retired from the military I decided that I would devote my life to witnessing and for the past several decades I've been in one place.
I believe that the busiest and best place in all of Sydney to pass out tracks was George Street and now for 40 years I've passed out tracks on that busy avenue. I've had a lot of rejections but many people have been courteous and they've accepted my gospel literature however I must tell you he said with tears now coursing down his cheeks that until today I knew of not one person who had accepted Christ from my witness all these years. This pastor with some help eventually did a rough count as best as they could determine and came to the conclusion that at least 146,000 people had been influenced to faith in Christ because of this man's consistent unfruitful to him testimony.
That was only the tip of the iceberg. Mr. Genner died two weeks after these pastors visited him. Imagine only a few Baptists in southern Sydney even knew about Mr. Genner but heaven knew about him and I can't imagine the fanfare when he arrived home. Dear flock I don't know about you but that testimony so convicts me. It deeply challenges me and it encourages me regarding my own witness.
What about yours? The old spiritual asks the question who will be a witness for my Lord? I pray that this week like never before in fact for the rest of our lives we will answer the question and say hear my I'll be a witness for my Lord. I hope today's time in God's word has provoked you to be a faithful witness and to share the truth wherever you have the opportunity.
This is Wisdom for the Heart. Stephen Davey is working through a series entitled The Trumpets of Seven Archangels. There's one more lesson to go in this series and we'll begin that message next time. In the meantime we'd love to hear from you. It's always a delight when we receive correspondence from our listeners. We enjoy hearing how God's using this ministry to bless and encourage you. If you'd like to send a card or letter in the mail our mailing address is Wisdom International PO Box 37297 Raleigh, North Carolina 27627.
Let me give you that one more time in case you're trying to write it down. It's Wisdom International PO Box 37297 Raleigh, North Carolina 27627. If you'd like to access our resources there are two easy ways to do that. One is to install the Wisdom International app to your phone. The archive of Stephen's teaching ministry is available on that app so you can listen to all of his Bible lessons. You can also listen to each day's broadcast there. Another great way to access our resources is at our website which is wisdomonline.org. That site is truly a treasure of discipleship resources. Stephen has been teaching the Bible for four decades. His books, sermons and articles are posted to that page. You'll find the full length sermons organized by Book of the Bible. You can also access Stephen's second daily program called The Wisdom Journey. That teaching series takes you through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Find all of that and more at wisdomonline.org. Then join us here tomorrow for our next message on Wisdom for the Heart. .
