The Two Witnesses

 

And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for p1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may 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 kind of plague, as often as they desire. (Revelation 11:3-6 ESV).

 

The “two witnesses” in this story represent the place and the purpose God gives to his church and, by association, to every person who has faith in Jesus. The church is a witnessing community—this is who we are and what we do. We witness to each other and to our communities how life is to be lived “in step with the Holy Spirit” (Galatians 5:25); “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly” with God (Micah 6:8). We do this because Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14). We are his witnesses.

 

We need to let this identity define us. There is a persistent notion limiting God’s claim on who we are. We have learned to look to preachers, missionaries, chaplains, and evangelists as full-time kingdom witnesses. But God makes no such distinctions. All who come to Jesus in faith are recipients of the Holy Spirit, who sends us into the world as witnesses (cf. Matthew 28:19-20). Whatever your vocational position, all people are sent to share the good news of life made new in, through, and for Jesus.

 

The “two witnesses” are not dressed in the latest designer clothing. God dresses them in sackcloth. This is a subtle but firm reminder that we need to drink from the same well of repentance and forgiveness as everyone else does. We witness in humility, not self-­righteousness or pride. It is a sobering moment in history revealed to us so that we might be reminded of our task today.

 

The Measuring Rod of God

 

Then I was given ma measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for p1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” (Revelation 11:1-3 ESV).

 

As we come to Chapter 11 of John’s vision of heaven, the apostle is told to measure the temple of God and to count the worshipers. Perhaps the point of this exercise had to do with how many people could come into the temple courts to worship. John was very familiar with the size of the old temple in Jerusalem. It was enormous by that day’s standards, yet it would be large enough to handle all the people now gathered around the throne in worship.

 

Over the last five decades I have peached in many different venues. In each of the situations the size of the buildings and the number of people in attendance were widely different. One of the first churches I preached was a small rural church near Bryan-College Station. It was a very cold winter day. The Director of Missions for the area had called an asked me to fill in for them in the absence of a pastor. Mary and I arrived at the church to find an empty parking lot. We were a bit early, but it still felt odd. Soon an elderly man arrived in his farm truck. He greeted us kindly and asked why we were there. I informed him I was asked to preach that morning. He was surprised at that and replied that they didn’t know anyone was coming to preach. As a result, they had canceled the services and he was only there to make sure the heat was on so the pipes would be protected from the cold. He was very quick to say that he would make some calls and get the people to come. At the start of the service we had four people in attendance which included both Mary and I. Mary played the piano, I led the music (with gusto, if not clarity) and I preached. It was a delightful experience.  

 

I’ve also preached in large auditoriums with over a thousand in attendance. However, the size of the building and the number of the attendance were never the primary concern. The primary concern was always the Gospel. This is the message God has for John. The “two witnesses” are introduced that they would prophecy, declaring the truth. In our current culture we have seen the rise of a need for bigger churches and bigger numbers of people. I would say that our focus must be away from “bigger” and more toward “purity of message.” We can practice that in our personal lives as well. We, too, should use the measuring rod of God.

 

The Little Scroll

 

Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and ahis legs like pillars of fire. He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets. (Revelation 10:1-7 ESV).

 

Yesterday I left you with a message of destruction. Today, I want to finish that with the message of deliverance and hope. In our reading today we see a gigantic angel who can straddle both the land and sea. He comes with a message: “No more delay!” And he has “a little scroll” that is “open in his hand.” The meaning of these events is important.

 

Some thoughtful scholars of the Bible can help us here. First, it’s important to know that the Greek word for “angel” (angelos) in the original text also means “messenger.” God’s mighty angels can do many things, but one of their main jobs is to be God’s messengers to us. They come with important announcements, and these are often about the “good news” (euangelion) of God’s salvation for us. This good news is also called the “gospel” (from an old English word meaning “good news”).

 

This helps us understand what “the little scroll” is that lies open in the angel’s hand. It is the gospel, the good news message that is open for all to see and hear and live by. John, the narrator, is invited to take this message and preach it to the nations, without delay. It may seem like a small message. But like the mighty angel, it is sent with the power of God, so it can go anywhere, crossing the land and sea to the ends of the earth. John is also told to “take it and eat it.” God’s good news is food for the soul, and it tastes sweet. Sadly, though, it can also bring a feeling of bitterness. The message is bittersweet because when it is shared, some people refuse to listen and believe (cf. Ezekiel 3:1-15).

Abaddon Comes

 

In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon. The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come. (Revelation 9:7-12 ESV).

 

Our reading today is disturbing; and it can be tempting to skip over this section in Revelation. Its message is terrifying. The swarm of locusts rising from the Abyss, grotesque in appearance and ruthlessly determined to torment as many people as they can, are creatures we would rather avoid. However, we dare not avoid it, for in doing so we would miss an incredible message of hope and encouragement.

 

This fifth-trumpet scene applies the same technique Jesus used in parts of his Sermon on the Mount. This is hyperbole, or apocalyptic, which is the use of exaggerated pictures that are not meant to be taken literally. Consider, for example, what Jesus says in Matthew 5:29-30 (NRSV): “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out… If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off.”

 

I remember teaching this passage in a church once when one of those in attendance responded by saying, “Wow! Jesus asks a lot.” They understood. They knew that Jesus was not saying we should literally harm ourselves, but they could see that he does call us to resist sin. The fifth-trumpet story says a lot about evil and the terrible pain it brings into people’s lives, and we need to resist it. With God’s protection we can do that, but we must see evil for what it is. What the Bible calls sin and evil is what we might define as “doing what I want, when I want.”

 

Sin may look and taste good. But God wants us to see sin’s real affect. Perhaps this truth is best brought home in the name of the driver-king who comes out of the Abyss. His name is Abaddon, or “Destroyer.”

 

The Fifth Trumpet

 

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them. (Revelation 9:1-6 ESV).

 

In the ongoing story of the opening of the seventh seal, we read of trumpets sounding and of great destruction and darkness coming on the earth (Revelation 8:6-13). Today, as we read about the sounding of a fifth trumpet, we see the opening of the Abyss, a great bottomless pit that belches smoke like a gigantic furnace. This trumpet begins the most destructive attack of all thus far. The picture is of destruction with no means of escape.

 

The Abyss is a detestable place, and perhaps it is best left locked. This is the Bible’s way of describing the hiding place of evil powers and forces that threaten to undo the goodness of God’s creation. Here Revelation pictures the Abyss opened and its occupants brought out so that their identity can be exposed. Light has a way of exposing what otherwise would remain hidden. I’m reminded, for example, of what I see most mornings when I walk into my henhouse. The air in the chicken coop looks clear until a beam of sunlight shines through a window. Then suddenly every dust particle in the air becomes visible.

 

When the Abyss opens, a thick cloud rises—darkening the world like smoke from a vast, raging fire. In our everyday lives, something similar happens when dark secrets of corruption and abuse are exposed. What was hidden comes out in the open, and it can feel like a dark cloud has come over us. There are times when we wish the Abyss had remained closed. We don’t like it when dark sins are exposed, but we need to be prepared. With God’s help, we need to look evil in the eye, name it, and work against its power to destroy.

 

The First Four Trumpets Sound

 

Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like ha great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel blew his trumpet, and ka great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter. The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night. (Revelation 8:6-12 ESV).

 

With the opening of the last seal we begin to see the trumpets sound. When the first angel sounds his trumpet, the world experiences “hail and fire mixed with blood” (Revelation 8:7). One third of the world’s trees are burned up in this plague, and all the grass is consumed. This judgment bears some similarities to the seventh plague in Egypt (cf. Exodus 9:23–24). In heaven, a second angel sounds a trumpet. The result is that “something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea” (Revelation 8:8). A third of the sea turns to blood, a third of the ships sink, and a third of ocean life dies (v. 9). This judgment is similar in some ways to the first plague in Egypt (cf. Exodus 7:20–21). The third trumpet judgment is like the second, except it affects the world’s freshwater lakes and rivers instead of the oceans. Specifically, “a great star, blazing like a torch” falls from the sky and poisons a third of the water supply (Revelation 8:10). This star is given the name Wormwood, and many people die (v. 11). In botany, wormwood (artemisia absinthium) is a shrub-like plant noted for its extreme bitterness and poisonous properties. The fourth of the seven trumpets brings about changes in the heavens. “A third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night” (Revelation 8:12).

 

While these judgements are incredible, we should not miss the mercy of God in the midst of can only be seen as horribly devastation. Notice God only destroys a “third” of these essential resources. God is leaving some means of provision for those who must remain until the final judgement of Christ. This will allow the Gospel to continue to work grace in those who remain. God’s desire is not destruction, but mercy and restoration. He has always acted in that way toward His creation.

 

The Smoke of the Incense

 

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood wat the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. (Revelation 8:1-5 ESV).

 

As we continue in the reading from yesterday, another thought-provoking scene unfolds. Yesterday we reflected on a half-hour of silence that took place when Jesus opened the seventh seal (cf. Revelation 8:1-2). And now an angel offers incense to go with “the prayers of all God’s people” being lifted up to the Lord.

 

Prayers are a fitting response to the command “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Our prayers are expressions of faith in God’s promise to be “our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

 

The picture here invites us to see that God always hears our prayers. “The prayers of all God’s people” include the prayers of children, of people just learning to pray, and of believers who have prayed for many years.

 

There have been many times when I wondered if God was truly listening to my prayers. More often than not those were the times when the object of my prayers was not in alignment with the will of God; however, some of the time I have felt a silence in response to those prayers I knew to be perfectly aligned with God’s purpose. I was proven wrong as time unfolded and God worked His purpose in a different time than I imagined.

 

Like the smoke of incense which slowly drifts through the room slowly filling it with its fragrance, so it is with God’s answer to our prayers. Though the timing may not be what we expect, God always answers our prayers!