Two Witnesses-Lent 14, 2022

While Revelation was not written as a secret code to predict Jesus’ return, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t mean to inspire study. Intensive study. Today’s passage sends us deep into Ezekiel to see how John is recreating a vision and then expanding it.

Revelation 11:1 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.”

Wait, I’m a Gentile. Am I excluded? Don’t worry, what’s pictured here is a subset of Gentile worshipers of Christ to be distinct from “the Gentiles” used in today’s passage to mean the nations.

God will protect His people
(both Jewish Christian from covenant promise and Gentile Christian by grace).
Simple: Christian=protected; unbelieving nations=evil
and the nations will trample God’s people in the last day.

Protection spiritually (measurement of the temple and altar) doesn’t mean physical protection from persecution which Scripture amply indicates will occur. Enter the two witnesses who are two specific faithful ones:

Revelation 11: 3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.” 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. 7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city– which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt– where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on 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 terror struck those who saw them. 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 looked on.”

Thoughts for today:

Big picture: There is a faithful group of worshipers whom God preserves.

Big picture: In the end, witnesses bring testimony which results in judgment. God saves His people yet their testimony—rejected—compiles evidence against the enemies of God’s people.

Big picture: Remember, the seventh trumpet has not yet sounded. There are a few things in this passage that display the cruel, irreverent arrogance of God’s enemies which will come in the last days. How does displaying this treatment of God’s people further harden the hearts of enemies of God and provide the burden of evidence for their receiving the wrath of God and prove how His judgments are just?

Big picture: God wins and even death is no problem for people who trust the Giver of life.

Do you see an interesting pattern of three and a half days then the breath of life from God resurrects them? Three days was assurance that someone was truly dead. A significance that cannot be overlooked is: How is this similar, but in what ways does this differ from Jesus with the empty tomb? How was Jesus’ resurrection different? How was His ascension/timing different?

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations. We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.