The Two Witnesses
Revelation 11:1-14
11 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, ‘Come and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, wearing sackcloth.’
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes; anyone who wants to harm them must be killed in this manner. 6 They have authority to shut the sky, so that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have authority over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.
7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is prophetically called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days members of the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb; 10 and the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to the inhabitants of the earth.
11 But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and those who saw them were terrified. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here!’ And they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies watched them. 13 At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming very soon.
Who the two witnesses are is not clear – and that may be intentional, so that these words can speak to a variety of different times in human history. For throughout human history there have been people who at great personal cost have borne witness to Jesus Christ. Even though the witnesses lost their lives, in their death they were vindicated, as even those who initially wanted them dead gave glory to God when they witnessed the manner of the witnesses’ death. As the saying goes, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
The two witnesses had powers Elijah had, to make it stop raining. The two witnesses have a variety of ways they tried to turn people to God.
Notice, the witnesses have a limited time in which to act, the forces of evil are able to triumph for only a limited time, as the two witnesses are raised to life again and taken up to heaven. Evil’s destructive powers are limited to this world and are limited in duration, the ultimate victory will go to God.
In a world where the forces of evil at times seem overwhelmingly strong and the voices speaking for the Jesus way seem so few and so ignored; in a world where the persecution of Christians is real – in that world, our world, there is hope to be found in this passage. The word of God will be proclaimed, and even if the powers of evil and destruction do their worst, they will not gain ultimate victory. God will still be victorious and his people will be vindicated for their loyalty to the Triune God of grace, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
PRAYER:
Lord God, we thank you for those people of faith who have been witnesses to your message of hope and life. We are humbled by the commitment of so many who gave their lives in loyalty to your call in their lives. We thank you for their example. We thank you for your promise that they did not die in vain, but that your reign of glory and resurrection is on its way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.