SEVEN TRUMPETS (6-3) | 2ND WOE - THE TWO WITNESSES PROPHESY (REVELATION 11:1-6)

1. Revelation  

a) John wrote Revelation while a prisoner on the Island of Patmos, approximately 85-95 A.D. Its purpose is to give encouragement and hope for all Christians to continue watching for the return and triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ. It also is to warn of the Final Judgment that nonbelievers will endure on that Last Day.

b) John wrote that Revelation is special because,“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3).

c) A brief view of the Book of Revelation. It gives you some basic understanding of the book of Revelation. 

2. The Sixth Trumpet (2nd Woe - The Two Witnesses Prophesy)

Revelation 11:1-6 
11 Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in 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 flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. 6 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.

3. The Temple Measured

Revelation 11:1

a) Temple 

i) John is given a measuring stick with which to measure the temple of God (Revelation 11:1-2). God's temple is no longer built by human hands or made of stone and gold. God's temple is now the church or kingdom of Christ, made of living stones who are the followers of Christ (Ephesians 2:19-22, Hebrews 8:1-6, Hebrews 9:24).

b) Measuring stick 

i) The measuring stick (Revelation 11:1-2) signifies the standard God has decreed for his temple and those who worship in it. When people worship by their own standard in a church established on their own standard, theirs is a church represented in the vision by the outer court. It is a church that is not the temple of God, but outside the temple. It needs to take up God's gospel standard and thereby restore its faith and worship so as to enter into the true temple of God.

4. The City Trampled 

Revelation 11:2

a) Trampled underfoot 

i) Jesus himself prophesied an overrunning of God's city, its temple, and its people (Luke 21:24). This happened to the physical Jerusalem in AD 70. However, John was seeing a vision of the true temple the church, rather than the old temple which was a type or foreshadowing of the new (Hebrews 8:1-6). This church and the blood that bought it is also trampled underfoot by those who are not of the truth and who are in the spirit of antichrist (Hebrews 10:29).

b) Forty-two months 

i) In the symbolic calendar this is three and a half years, as is twelve hundred and sixty days. We discuss the three-and-a-half symbol in a separate study. Briefly, in a time of trial and tribulation, signified by the three-and-a-half symbol embodied in the times given, we are fortified by the strength of our king and high priest Jesus Christ.

5.The Two Witnesses 

Revelation 11:3

a) Two Witnesses 

i) In the vision there are two witnesses (Revelation 11:3) 

ii) These represent the two-fold oath which God himself swore.

@1. God swore to David that he would seat one of his descendants upon his throne Acts 2:29-31, 2 Samuel 7:8-17).

@2. God also swore to that descendant (Christ) "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (Hebrews 7:21-22, Psalms 110:4)

iii) God made the prophet Zechariah put a crown on the head of Joshua the priest to symbolize that Christ would be like Melchizedek, a priest on his throne, occupying the offices of both king and high priest in the kingdom of heaven (Zechariah chapters 3-6).

iv) The oaths God swore declare that Christ as head of the church is both king and high priest. The two witnesses in John's vision and the two olive trees in Zechariah's vision signify this promise of the double anointing of Jesus Christ.

b) Clothed in Sackcloth 

i) The two witnesses were to wear sackcloth (Revelation 11:3). Sackcloth is what the name suggests —a rough cloth for the making of sacks. It was worn as a sign of reproach and sorrow for sin, if not for one's own sin, then for the sins of others. In this vision, it represents the reproach of Christ —he bore the sins of the world (Psalms 69:7-21).

6. Olive Trees and Lampstands 

Revelation 11:4-6

a) Two Olive Trees and the Two Lampstands 

i) The importance of these two witnesses (God's two oaths about Christ as Priest and King) is emphasized by the fact that they are seen in the vision not only as two prophets in sackcloth, but also as two olive trees and two lampstands standing before the Lord (Revelation 11:4). The olive trees signify the double anointing of Jesus as both Priest and King as promised in God's oaths. The lampstands signify the light which these two divine oaths, and the Person about whom the oaths were made, shed upon a dark world. Jesus, our Great High Priest and King of kings, is Lord of the earth and Light of the world (John 1:1-5).

b) Power to strike the earth 

i) In the vision, the two witnesses have power to kill their enemies with plagues (Revelation 11:5-6). This signifies the fact that the gospel of Christ (our High Priest and King) torments the enemies of God and overpowers them. Satan tries to prevent the testimony of the gospel message, but he cannot. 

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