Today we again have a little interlude from all the horror of the judgments. Thankfully God gives us these little breathers throughout Revelation because it is so intense. This is Thanksgiving weekend, and of course we should be the most thankful people of all knowing that we have a saviour that will protect us from His wrath when it comes.
So the first thing I think we need to do today is,
I. Chap. 10 – Thank God for his word
As we look at Chapter 10 of Revelation we see clearly that,
A. Jesus is the Word of God
Another mighty angel comes down from heaven, this one must be Jesus, wrapped in a cloud, a rainbow over his head, face like the sun and legs like fire as in Revelation 1:15&16. The scroll is now open in his hand, all the seals have been broken. This is either the book of Revelation or more likely the entire Word of God.
He calls out with a loud voice like a lion, the voice of the king, and when he called out the seven thunders sounded. These thunders usually refer to God and the fact that there are seven of them makes it quite certain that God is backing up the call of Jesus.
Now God says something here and as soon as John goes to write it down, he heard a voice telling him not to. This was for John’s ears only and is a reminder that God does not reveal everything to us. Daniel was told to seal up his vision in chapter 8 and 11 of his book because it was for later. It was not to be revealed yet.
Notice the stance of Christ, one foot on land, one in the sea showing his complete dominion over all creation. He raises his hand to heaven and swears an oath by God the creator, that there will be no more delay. He is responding to those under the altar that were told to wait. The waiting is over, Jesus is about to finish the judgment. Why would Jesus need to take an oath though?
Well, he doesn’t have to, but its evidence of the solemness and certainty of the words he is speaking. We saw God take an oath when he made his covenant with Abraham, when he declared Jesus to be the high priest, and when he promised David that the Christ would come from his family.
He says that with the seventh trumpet the mystery of God will be fulfilled as announced to his prophets. In Amos 3:7 we hear that the “Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets”. In this case it has been revealed, but John has been told to seal it for now.
We also see in this chapter that,
B. The Word of God must become Flesh
Now in verse 8 John is given the scroll to eat. Jeremiah and Ezekiel also ate the word of God. The practical aspect for us here is that it’s not enough to carry your bible, even to read over the bible. It is meant to be digested, to become part of us. The Word of God is the most valuable thing we will ever have, and oh how modern Christians have taken it for granted, especially in the west.
Can we just take a moment to understand what it would be like if the Bible had never been written. What would that be like, what would we know, would we be living any differently? I don’t think we can truly comprehend what the world and our own lives would be like if there had never been the word of God.
We know all the stories now, and the general gist of the Bible so now it’s kind of like a resource book that we pick up once in a while. But if you will just ponder never having any knowledge of it, if it didn’t exist, then we see the incredible value of it. The idea here is that it should be as much a part of us as the food we eat. You are what you eat, and you are what you read when it comes to the word of God. The word of God must always become flesh, it must become active in our lives.
Notice it’s not stuffed or forced into John’s mouth, it is handed to him and he has the choice to eat it. When we do eat it, God cannot change the effect it will have in us. It will bring both sorrow and joy, sourness and sweetness, sweet promises and assurances, and bitter warnings and prophecies of judgment. Faithful Christians and preachers cannot neglect to declare all of Scripture, both sweet and sour.
John is told that he must prophecy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings. He is still to talk about the entire word of God in the scroll, but he is not to reveal what the thunders said to him. The implication of course is that one day all these mysteries will be revealed.
The other thing we can be thankful for today is from chapter 11,
II. Chap 11 – That death has been conquered
What do we make of this passage where John is measuring the temple? First of all, measurement in the Bible is a way of claiming something. So the Jews would understand this as John showing God reclaiming the temple from the gentiles who had taken it over in 70 AD. Notice it’s not just the temple, but also the altar, and most significantly, those who worship there. So…
A. The Temple of God is Reclaimed
Here we are in the first half of the tribulation and the temple has been rebuilt under the protection of Antichrist.
We know this has to be because later there is the abomination of desolation which is very likely either a statue of Antichrist in the temple, or himself saying he is God from the Holy of Holies. He claims it as his and breaks his covenant with Israel making it a place to worship him. We will elaborate on this in chapter 13.
John is told to skip the outer court of the gentiles, the nations, because they are going to trample it for 42 month. “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the gentiles”, Jesus said in Luke, “until the time of the gentiles is fulfilled”. This is referring to the first part of the tribulation where the nations will continually come against Israel.
These are people who just continue to reject Christ and continue to be hostile to God’s people. And during that same time God’s two witnesses will prophecy clothed in sackcloth which simply means they prophecy about judgment and repentance.
God has claimed and is protecting his worshippers, the temple and the altar even though Antichrist is apparently ruling in Jerusalem. We keep seeing in Revelation that God will protect his people from all of this.
Then we also see that,
B. The Temple of the Holy Spirit is Reclaimed
Who are these two witnesses, remember the 144000 do not get sealed until we go into the second part of the Great Tribulation. I believe these two witnesses are the two testaments of the word of God. Chapter ten talks about the word of God so it makes sense that these two witnesses in chapter 11 that are prophesying with great power, could be the Old and New Testaments.
Some say these witnesses are literal prophets like Elijah and Moses based on the type of power they have. There is a lot of evidence from other parts of the Bible that leads us to believe that. Neither of them were seen buried, they may have never died. The miracles we see here are the same as the ones Moses and Elijah did before.
Malachi in the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. But Jesus later says that John the Baptist was Elijah.
So this could be true, certainly if Moses and Elijah showed up again the Jews would be likely to believe, but I think it’s also symbolic. The Bible, the Word of God has all these events in it so why couldn’t these witnesses be the Bible? Remember John was on the mountain when Elijah and Moses showed up with Jesus at the transfiguration, so he would have likely mentioned that these were the witnesses, he would have recognized them.
God grants authority to these witnesses as the word of God has authority as a two edged sword, living and active. Are these witnesses really going to breathe fire, I doubt it, but the Holy Spirit who is often portrayed as fire, through the word of God could certainly destroy people spiritually with the truth.
There are so many metaphors for the word of God in Scripture. I believe it also represents the saints of the Old and New Testaments, the Jews and the Christians, the church which is Christ’s body, who is the Word of God made flesh.
Since the beginning of time people have tried to destroy the Bible to no avail. Satan also tried to eliminate Christ which we will see in more detail next week. He seemed to be successful, until about 3 and a half days later when Christ arose, claiming final victory.
Verse five says that everyone who is against the witnesses, the word of God, Jesus, and God’s people will die by fire. Of course, that is the destiny of all unbelievers who eventually end up in the lake of fire. Whether that is literal or not we will address later.
The two lampstands and olive trees refer to symbols in the book of Zechariah and represent the high priest Joshua and the king Zerubbabel, government and religion, or the Law and the prophets. The truth (remember Jesus said he was the truth), the truth of the Bible and the church’s witness torments sinners so they celebrate when they are killed, when Jesus was killed, and when all believers and the church are gone.
It would also make sense that the olive trees are Jewish believers, and the lampstands are Gentile church believers. There are two of each because Jesus always sent out his witnesses in twos. But notice carefully that the prophets here have finished their testimony before God allows Satan to conquer them. In essence, they are not conquered at all, they are finished their work and get to be with the Lord now.
How then do we explain the beast coming and conquering them and their dead bodies lying on the street for three and a half days? I said before that I think if there is a literal rapture that our bodies will be left behind dead? Well, it appears here that the church, the witnesses, God’s people have completed their witness, are raptured and their bodies are scattered behind. When the church is gone, the bible can be eliminated from the earth.
Perhaps the bodies left behind represent the false apostate church that continues as an institution during the Great Tribulation.
Now they are raptured before the Great Tribulation and I don’t believe the three and half days are literal days, but rather the last half of the Tribulation when at the end there will be a physical resurrection. The world is celebrating because all believers are gone, there is no one left to give them guilty consciences, but when they see what happens at the end when they are all visibly resurrected, that the word of God was never really done away with, they will be afraid, and give glory to God according to our passage today.
This doesn’t mean they will necessarily come to faith, but every knee shall bow and acknowledge that Christ is the Lord.
The point here is that for the believer there is no death, only transformation. The other truth here is that the witness of the church through the Word of God, will someday be completed. These are the things we can definitely give thanks for regardless of all the details, and tricky interpretations here.
Finally we can,
III. Thank God that Christ is King
Now in verse 15 we finally get the seventh and final trumpet. But most importantly, the loud voices in heaven state very clearly that Christ has now begun his eternal reign on the earth and everyone falls on their faces and worships.
If you learn nothing from Revelation but this, you will have mastered this book. Right in the middle of the book of Revelation everything that the entire Bible and especially this book leads to is stated with loud voices, “Christ has begun his reign and it will be forever and ever.” The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord. Do you believe this?
Heaven certainly does, they scream it out, they definitely believe. Last time they were silent because they didn’t really know what was coming in the judgment, but now His reign has certainly begun. This is it.
Satan and man have been the rulers of the world Kingdom since the fall, making a complete mess. But Christ will reign and this time it will be forever, Satan is nothing but a piece of charcoal.
Look at,
A. The Announcement of this Victory in verses 15-18 read.
What a song of praise and relief. He finally reigns, His judgment is complete. Look at how it talks about the destroyers of the earth at the end. Ironically, the very people that live for the earth and its pleasures are the ones that are destroying it. As soon as we see it as ours to exploit instead of God’s creation that we are stewards over, we become gluttons for the pleasure it brings.
We need to remember that we literally live in the kingdom of the world ruled by Satan, but we are also living in the Kingdom of God at the same time. I never saw that more clearly than this week walking the streets in Toronto. Within two blocks I saw everything that is wrong with the world we have created.
I saw people’s dead faces, people who are trying to be something, a bunch of wannabes, thinking that if they can achieve these worldly things, if they can be important enough, maybe they’ll be OK.
If our billboards and TV screens are big enough we will influence people to our side, to worship things, clothes, style, sex, sports, money. I was never so grateful that I have come out of that and could see it for what it is, the Babylon that is headed for destruction in chapter 18, our Lord’s footstool.
“Come out of her my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues… She will be burned up with fire”.
The question for every Christian is which kingdom are we actually living in. If we look at our lives would it appear that we are living in the kingdom of the world or thankfully in the kingdom of God?
B. Then there’s The Exposure of Heaven
The temple in heaven is then opened, we see Indiana Jones and the ark of the covenant can be seen and there is lightning, thunder, hail and an earthquake. No, Indiana Jones didn’t find it. I believe after this is when the New Jerusalem will come down to earth. The seventh of all three judgments, the seals, the trumpets and the bowls represent the end.
Look at the end of the opening of the seventh seal in chapter 8, the same lightning, thunder, hail and earthquake. Just prior to this in chapter 7 there is already the great multitude in heaven.
All three of these series of seven judgments appear to be happening simultaneously, but they are three different perspectives of things that happen at various times during the Great Tribulation and the history of the church. We will see the same thing with the seven bowls. These are all overlapping and believers who are part of the church before the fifth seal experience none of it.
This vision of the Ark is a reminder that although final judgment is coming, the promise still holds for those who turn to the saviour. God doesn’t forget his mercy, it is there for all to accept, but now the stage is set for the dramatic appearance of the beast and the false trinity of Satan in the next chapter.
Thanksgiving Day, a day we give thanks for our blessings here on earth. A good harvest, family and friends, health, financial stability. These are great things and God cares about these things, but when we think of what we really have to be grateful for, the fact that we will never die or be separated from God long after this little life is done and everything we have disappears.
When we consider that we live under a King that is already reigning in our lives and promises to do away with all evil, and initiate a perfect kingdom for us to live in, these other worldly things lose much of their significance.
And I ask you, what is the greatest way to thank someone? Is it to say thank you, buy them a card and some flowers? What would be the most meaningful way your child could thank you for what you have done as a parent?
Wouldn’t it be to have a successful and meaningful life because they lived by your teachings, which hopefully include the teachings of God? That they would be happy well adjusted people? Wouldn’t that be more meaningful than a simple thank you?
If someone saved your life here on earth, would you be satisfied with just writing them a thank you note?
The greatest way to show our thanks to our Father, to Christ, is to live a good life as he has instructed. He gave us the way through His word, and the greatest thanks is to live that way so we can be happy and be with Him, our loving Father for eternity. Jesus said three times in the book of John, that you love me by obeying my commandments. We love Him because he first loved us, what is that? Isn’t it gratitude?
My friends, I believe we are these two witnesses. We live in very troubled times where people are cutting themselves, drinking themselves into oblivion, abusing their children, right under our noses. Jesus is the only way they will find escape from these things.
As witnesses we can express our gratitude by speaking the truth about the judgment and salvation that the Lord brings, by helping people digest the Word of God, by living out our gratitude through our love for them.
When we realize that we need nothing anymore, that God has provided everything we really need, we can show our thanksgiving to God by living for Him and helping other people find the giver of life. Like the 24 elders who get off their throne and fall down and worship before him, we also must catapult our sorry behinds off our thrones and acknowledge that we are nothing, that we have no glory without Him.
Yet he makes us, in essence part of him, to share in His glory. Do you think these elders are thinking about their kid’s soccer game, about lunch, about golf? I know we have lives, we live in this world. But honestly, do we use that as an excuse? Is church a chore, or do you wish it didn’t end? Do you hunger for his Word? Yes we live in this world, but where is our heart. Really, life should be the chore that interrupts our time with Him and His people.
When you say your prayers at Thanksgiving dinner this weekend, thank Him. Thank Him that as we go through the Book of Revelation, and witness how everything is going to end, that we will be spared from it. Thank Him for the multitudes that he has yet to save out of the tribulation. And just thank him for who he is, and for His love for us.
But please don’t just give him lip service, live out your thanksgiving or you’re really just insulting him because he knows your heart better than you do.
