“And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty 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. (Revelation 11:3–5)
God gives power to His two witnesses, and they prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. And who are these two mysterious witnesses? Is this the Jewish Church and the Gentile Church? Shall we expect Moses and Elijah, or even Enoch and Elijah? Beloved Brethren, this mystery is given to us by God to induce us to fear Him. For, as it is written:
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this Law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)
And also,
Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.” (Revelation 10:4)
Even the great Prophet Zechariah did not fully understand all of the mysteries that were given to him by way of prophecy. For, he saw, in a vision, a lampstand of solid gold, and also two olive trees placed beside it, but when he asked the angel who talked with him, “What are these, my lord?” and the angel answered and said to him, “Do you not know that these are?” the humble Prophet responded and said, “No, my lord” (Zecharaiah 4:4-5).
Dear Brethren, who among us would be haughty enough to presume to possess a full understanding of the two olive trees and the two lampstands in the eleventh chapter of the book of Revelation? If, according to the Apocalypse, the Holy City will be tread underfoot for forty-two months (which is a span of three and a half years), and these two witnesses will prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days (which is also a prophetic span of three and a half years), who can understand these spans of years? For, the Prophet Daniel was told that the saints would be persecuted by Antichrist for a time, and times, and half a time, which is another span of three and a half [Daneil 7:25]. And then it was revealed to him that after a time, times, and half a time, the power of God’s saints would be completely shattered, and then the end would come [Daniel 12:7]. For, as it was revealed to Daniel, the abomination of desolation shall abide in the Holy Place for one thousand two hundred and ninety days (which is three and a half years, plus one month), and the end will come after one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days [12:11-12]. Yet even the blessed Daniel himself could not grasp all of these things, and so he humbly records, “Although I heard, I did not understand” (12:8).
Who, then, are the two witnesses in the eleventh chapter of the Apocalypse? And in what manner shall the Lord God send Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord? Dear Children, let us be astonished at these things, and fear. Let us not be haughty, or allow our eyes to be lifted up in pride. Rather, let us not overly concern ourselves with matters too great for us, even the great mysteries of the specific times and places of the end, since such matters are too profound for our little, child-like minds. Instead, let us learn to fear God, and worship Him, from these precious verses of Holy Scripture:
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 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, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. (Revelation 11:7–10)
The two witnesses, who are these two prophets, are hated by the world. Cain murdered his brother because his works were evil, while his brother’s works were righteous [1 John 3:12]. It is, then, the nature of the world to hate God’s prophets. For, whenever the light of Christ shines into the world, men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. Thus all who practice evil hate the light of God [John 3:19-20].
We ourselves, then, expect persecutions to come. For, these are the last days of history, and in these days the saints of God who understand the Gospel of Christ Jesus “shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering” (Daniel 11:33). Therefore, we imitate Paul in his sufferings, together with the sufferings of all of Christ’s Apostles:
To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. (1 Corinthians 4:11–13)
Also, we join the elect of God from ancient times in the fellowship of their persecutions:
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. (Hebrews 11:37–38)
O dear Church, stop laboring for the admiration of the world. It is high time to cease from the foolish thinking that we can win the world’s respect by higher test scores, and greater academic achievements, and better industry amongst the saints of God. Such strategizing is not evangelism. It is spiritual adultery. For, it seeks friendship with the world, and that for financial and political gain, even when the Lord Jesus already has forewarned us by saying, “If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18), and His beloved Apostle has warned us, saying, “Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you” (1 John 3:13). Ours, then, is not a conquest by intellect, or by cultural aptness. Rather, the Gospel of God conquers through the saints of God only by way of our tribulations for the sake of righteousness:
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. (Revelation 12:11)
Therefore, we count ourselves already dead to the world, since we already have been crucified with Christ. We lower ourselves into Christ’s lowly pattern, and so say with Paul, “[We] die daily” [1 Corinthians 15:31]. This is our conquest. In this is our victory, even in the scars on our bodies and the wounds upon our souls that we bear for the name of Christ. O suffering saints, you weep now. But through your sorrows, Christ conquers. You die now. But in your many deaths for the sake of His name, He shall be glorified.
For us, who are in the love of Christ, death is gain. It is conquest. For, through death comes the promise of the resurrection of the dead:
Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet…. (Revelation 11:11)
The world is full of murderers. The beast murders the two witnesses. When this happens, the world rejoices and makes merry over their deaths. Yet God is He who breathes life into the slain bodies of His martyred servants. Just as He breathed life into the nostrils of the first man, Adam, and thus Adam became a living being, so too does God send forth His Spirit to breathe upon His slain children, in order to raise them from the dead on the Last Day:
So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. (Ezekiel 37:10)
And,
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)
The coming resurrection of the dead shall bring God’s just and righteous judgments upon all of the unjust and unrighteous acts that have been committed against God’s elect since the creation of the world. For, when righteous Naboth was condemned by way of false witnesses, and was being stoned to death, Queen Jezebel sneered at him, and laughed, heaping insults upon him at his death, and calling him a scoundrel for not being willing to sell his vineyard to the king of Israel, who had coveted the vineyard. Yet at the resurrection of the dead, Naboth will rise in glory, and Jezebel, from her place in Hellfire, shall look upon the spectacle in utter fear:
Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. (Revelation 11:11)
O dear Children, when Christ comes, He shall come suddenly. It shall come in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, with the sounding of the last trumpet [1 Corinthians 15:52]. The wicked shall be eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building [Luke 17:28]. They shall be giving gifts to one another in the name of triumphing over the witness of the Church, and over the two prophets who had tormented them by their preaching [Revelation 11:10]. Then, suddenly, while they are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction shall come upon them, like pains upon a woman in labor, and they shall not escape [1 Thessalonians 5:3]. Then, God shall “repay with tribulation” those who have troubled His saints, and give rest to us who are troubled, “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:6–8).
And what does the book of Revelation say will happen to the wicked when the two prophets are raised from the dead and stand on their feet? It says this of the wicked men of the world who will witness these events:
…and great fear fell on those who saw them. (Revelation 11:11)
Consider, carefully, the terror that shall fall upon them when they see the saints raised from the dead. For, once the saints are raised, thrones shall be set in Jerusalem for judgment, the thrones of the house of David [Psalm 122:5]. Jesus’ Apostles, who followed Him, shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the tribes of Israel [Matthew 19:28]. The Apostle Paul even tells us that we, who are much lesser than the Apostles, to be sure, nevertheless shall judge angels [1 Corinthians 6:3].
Think, then, of how terrified the wicked shall be when they see this gloriously dreadful sight:
And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the Word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4)
Paul himself shall be raised from the dead, in the body, and the wicked shall see him raised. When Paul is raised, great fear shall fall on the wicked upon beholding Paul’s resurrected visage. In specific, men like Felix, the former Roman governor, shall be terrified. For, Felix, trying to gain political favor with the Jews, left Paul languishing in prison, and treated him like a common criminal. Felix relished in his royal power and riches, and tried to shew away Paul as if he were merely a pesky preacher, and a worthless tentmaker. Yet when Paul is raised, Felix shall have no power, and Paul shall sit upon a great Apostolic throne of judgment, and he who once summoned Paul before his feet now shall be summoned before Paul’s feet, and Paul shall be found wearing that particularly splendid and fearful crown of righteousness which marks him as one of the mightiest of God’s mighty warriors and kings. And Felix shall be compelled to come forward to the judgment seat as one utterly terrified, and shall receive the eternal sentence with horror.
O how glorious shall be the sight of the conquering, resurrected martyrs and saints of God! For, those followers of Arius who, empowered by the imperial soldiers who accompanied them, so wickedly abused the virgins of Athanasius’ church during the persecution of Athanasius in Alexandria, even beating them in the face until they were almost unrecognizable, shall, at some point after the resurrection, have to stand before the risen Athanasius and his risen, beloved flock. Likewise, those Catholic soldiers who so diabolically tortured the Waldensian men, women, and children during the persecutions of the Waldenses of the Middle Ages, shall find themselves, at the coming resurrection of the righteous, looking with fear and trembling upon the glory of the Waldensian Christians whose bodies shall be raised to life. There is a coming resurrection of the righteous. In this world, we are despised, and outcast, and mocked, and hated. Yet when we are raised on the Last Day, there shall be such Heavenly glory and radiance about the bodies of each one of Christ’s children that when the unbelievers will look upon us—even the least among us—in our resurrected state, a great and dreadful fear will fall upon them.
Christian husbands, take heed to yourselves, and thus treat your God-fearing wives with all gentleness and honor, for in the Kingdom of our Father their faces shall shine forth as the sun [Matthew 13:43]. Christian fathers, do not be overbearing with, or unjust towards your precious children in Christ. For, in the Kingdom of our Christ they may well rule above you, and you may well find yourself under them. And you shall see them there shining forth as the sun.
God’s two witnesses, His two prophets, shall be raised. They shall ascend into Heaven on a cloud, and their enemies shall see them, and fear. And thus the resurrection of God’s elect, however the mystery unfolds, shall strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of the Gospel.
Yet if the resurrection of Christ’s sons and daughters shall cause a great fear to fall upon the unbelievers, how much more shall the face of the resurrected, ascended, and then returning Christ cause them to shake and panic in fear! For, here is the glory of the ascended Christ:
He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. (Revelation 1:16)
And,
His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. (Revelation 19:12)
And, once more,
And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. (Revelation 19:14–15)
When the Lord Jesus was arrested, and thus in chains, the high priest of Israel heaped insults upon him and, led by the Devil, condemned Jesus to death. When Jesus was crucified, the chief priests and the scribes mocked His suffering and spit at him. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but He cannot save Himself!” They made sport of His blood. They valued His blood only at thirty pieces of silver.
What shall it be like, then, for those same chief priests and scribes to have to stand trial, at the Judgment, before the Judgment throne of Christ? He, whose crucifixion they secured by falsehood, and whom they so belittled, shall be revealed to them as the holy Son of God who created all things, before whom even the mighty cherubim fall to their faces, and cover their faces and their feet with their wings. The angels and the twenty-four elders fall down before Him, day and night, crying out, “Holy, Holy, Holy!” And yet the high priests and the scribes, in their horror, shall be brought before this very throne of God for judgment, and shall give an account to God for their mocking and cursing of the blood of His eternal Son. And, once committed to their everlasting confines in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, their torment shall never be abated.
O how we praise our God for the coming Day of Christ Jesus! On that day, God’s servants who hungered in this life shall eat, and His children who thirsted in this life shall drink. Formerly, they wept, but then they shall rejoice. In their earthly pilgrimage, they were falsely accused, and considered accursed. Yet in the Kingdom of Heaven, they shall be called blessed, and their righteousness shall shine as the noonday. For, God shall raise the bodies of His elect, immortal and imperishable. And Christ shall be eternally beloved of His bride, and we shall, at last, be with our Christ forever, since the wedding feast shall never end, and God, our God, shall receive our perfected love forever, and thus God shall be all in all.
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
コメント