Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20010610.htm

REVELATION: CALL TO HOLINESS IN VIEW OF PROPHECY
Part III: The Things Hereafter'
"H. The Two Witnesses: God's Testimony To World Apostate Groups"
(Revelation 11:1-19)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

(1) Those of us who attend Nepaug are becoming quite aware of the upward battle deceived people face in even acquiring the truth:

(a) Following the morning service last Sunday, I spoke with a member in our Church who expressed concern for very kind friends of his who had just converted to an errant religion. This Church member told me how careful he is going to have to be in even approaching these friends with the truth lest they resist the truth out of sheer disbelief that they could have been so badly DECEIVED!

(b) Then, on Tuesday when I got to the office and opened my e-mail, I found a message from another Nepaug Church attender on the same subject. Last Sunday he attended another area church in a religious event with relatives. He heard the pastor teach from the pulpit that God was NOT omnipresent! The e-mail author wrote: "I praise[d] the Lord and thank[ed] Him for your ministry and Nepaug Church after the ordeal . . . Don't ever hesitate to preach the real Word of God. Let your light so shine. Let the Lord lead and don't ever let man influence your direction."

After detailing the errors that had come out in that other church's service, the e-mail author summarized, "It is unbelievable how blind the eyes are of those who don't believe."

(2) Question: Have you ever wondered how people so deeply deceived by ERROR can ever HOPE to come to the TRUTH?!

(3) Consider the complication of this matter in terms of the Tribulation Period: the antichrist is going to appear with all sorts of lying miraculous wonders in order to deceive, 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9. In the process, he will even set himself up as God and all that is called God in the Hebrew temple in Jerusalem to deceive the world of people already captured in the grip of apostasy! We might then ask, "How will THOSE deceived people ever have a CHANCE for hearing the truth and coming to salvation?!"



How then can people we KNOW, let alone those in the coming Great Tribulation Period who will be STEEPED in further deception under antichrist's influence ever have a CHANCE to KNOW the TRUTH and be saved?!

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "I have friends in an apostate group, so I must be CAREFUL about how I relate the TRUTH to them ABOUT their group lest they react defensively in disbelief! In the Tribulation when antichrist is SO deceptive, will such folk have any chance to be saved? How?!"
  1. As we learned in Revelation 10:1-10, the rise of INTENTIONAL INDIVIDUAL apostasy, or DEFECTION from the truth, will lead to a worldwide apostate SYSTEM God will judge, Rev. 10:11.
  2. Hence, MANY people ALREADY HAVE been and still WILL be DECEIVED by APOSTATE groups, and go along with the "broad way" that leads to destruction, cf. Matthew 7:13-14, 15.
  3. Well, in GRACE, DURING the Tribulation, God will raise up a great WITNESS to APOSTATE GROUPS so everyone IN them will be WITHOUT EXCUSE regarding God's truth (Rev. 11:1-19):
    1. As we learned from our study of Revelation 10:1-11, Revelation 10:11 teaches Revelation 11:1-19:21 reveals the Great Tribulation from the viewpoint of God's dealings with apostate groups.
    2. Then, God's dealings with apostate groups is introduced by a focus on the Tribulation Period's Jewish temple in Revelation 11:1-2:
      1. There will exist a Jewish temple complete with its Old Testament sacrificial system (an altar with worshipers) during 3 years of the Great Tribulation (42 months = 3 years), Revelation 11:1.
      2. Since the temple is notoriously and dreadfully (for the Jew) trodden under foot by Gentiles for this 3 year time, we assume this to be the last half of the seven-year Tribulation Period predicted by Daniel in Daniel 9:27, Revelation 11:2. (cf. Ryrie Study Bible: King James Version, ftn. to Rev. 11:1 and 11:2).
    3. Well, when the antichrist blasphemously exalts himself as god in the temple in great deception (Dan. 9:27 with 2 Thess. 2:3-4, 8-9), the true God will give power unto two human leaders who believe in Christ and who will testify of the TRUTH as follows (Rev. 11:3-19):
      1. God promised to raise up two witnesses who would prophecy for 1,260 days which equals 42 Hebrew months, or the 3 years when antichrist is dominating the temple scene, Revelation 11:3.
      2. These witnesses will be Israel's religious leader, the high priest, and her civil leader, someone like today's prime minister:
        1. These witnesses are clearly identified as "the two olive trees" and God's "two candlesticks" in Revelation 11:4.
        2. Only one other Scripture reference of such figures exists -- what is supplied in Zechariah 4:3, 14 about God's "anointed ones."
        3. These two "anointed ones" are, literally, "sons of oil," referring to Joshua the religious high priest ruler and Zerubbabel, the civil ruler in Israel during Zechariah's era, cf. Ryrie Study Bible: King James Version, footnote to Zechariah 4:14!
        4. Hence, in the days of antichrist's deceptive desecration of the Hebrew temple in the last half of the Tribulation, God will raise up the then ruling Hebrew High Priest and Hebrew civil leader, possibly Israel's prime minister, who will believe in Christ. These two public figures will be given power to withstand antichrist and testify to apostate groups re: Christ's truths!
      3. They will have power to consume by fire from their mouths any who oppose them, Revelation 11:5-6. They will also have authority over rain and water as had O. T. Elijah, and power to smite the earth with various plagues like Moses of old! (cf. Exodus 7:14-12:36; 1 Kings 17:1; 18:41-45; 2 Kings 1:1-15)
      4. God will allow their earthly ministry to end with their opponents killing them and letting their dead bodies be desecrated, 11:7-8.
      5. Yet, much like Christ, 3 days later, God will raise these men up and publicly call them to ascend to heaven before all foes, 11:9-12.
      6. A great earthquake that kills 7,000 in Jerusalem will follow, causing onlookers to give glory to the God of heaven! (11:13)
      7. With even deceived people in apostate groups then realizing the truth, the 7th trumpet will blow to usher in final events, 11:14-19!
Application: (1) If we have not done so, KNOW that faith alone in Christ's death ALONE is the TRUE way of eternal life, and believe in Him, John 3:16; Eph. 2:8-9. (2) Then, trust God's power and grace to reach even deceived associates with the TRUTH (Acts 17:24-28), and (3) PRAY for the opportunity and words to testify to them, Colossians 4:2-4; Ephesians 6:18-19. (4) Trust GOD is always at work to convince the lost of the truth, cf. John 16:7-11; Acts 17:24-30; Revelation 22:17.

Lesson: Even in the MIDST of the GREATEST apostate DECEPTION in HISTORY, GOD will THERE supply man with His testimony to the TRUTH. Hence, NO man is ever without excuse regarding God's truths! >

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 As an encouragement that God does not stop nor is He stopped by apostasy-swamped areas of the world, consider the following:

The July-August, 1989 issue of the SIM NOW missionary publication (No. 46, p. 11) records this testimony. It is a written account by an Arab from Lebanon who graduated with honors in his M. A. degree, and majoring in Islamic Law from the Islamic University of Al Azhar in Cairo. He was appointed preaching sheik in mosques in the Lebanese cities of Beirut, Tripoli and Sidon. He wrote:

" . . . When I was serving my religion in its many duties, I honestly believed that I was serving God. But so many difficulties and problems came into my life, I began to think perhaps that was not the way God wanted me to serve Him. I became increasingly dissatisfied, and asked God that if this were not the way, would He please show me the right way.

After that I kept having a dream in which I was walking along a path that always ended at a church. Every time I had this dream I asked God if it had come from Him. And another thing -- I kept thinking of Christ. The picture of Him on the cross, with blood flowing from His wounds, kept imposing itself on my mind. This was even against my will, because I had been taught that Christ was not crucified. In spite of my continued rejection of Christ, this picture came to my mind more and more, and every time it happened I felt a great happiness. It seemed Christ was ordering me to follow Him.

After a long time I finally decided that I wanted to accept Christ . . . Eventually, I went to a friend . . . He explained some things to me, and referred me to a pastor who helped a lot. Another pastor, who had undergone a similar struggle, explained more fully to me the truths of Scripture and life in Christ.

There was still a struggle. I fought long against reason, with all its arguments and defenses and logic. But finally the heart drew the sword of love, and the battle ended with complete surrender to Christ."