A sermon for Pilgrim Church on Rev chs 10-11

A pattern is developing in the book.  We have already seen seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowl plagues are yet to come.  In the case of the seals, the first six were all together and then there was an interlude which introduced the 144,000 and a vision of heaven before the final seal.  In the case of the trumpets, we looked at the first six last time.  This time we are going to consider another interlude before the final trumpet is sounded at the end of chapter 11.  This interlude runs from 10:1 to 11:14.  Chapters 10 and 11:1-13 focus on the prophetic testimony of John and the two witnesses.  Just as the interlude in the first half of chapter 7 took place at the same time as chapter 6, we should understand chapter 10 and the first half of 11 as happening at the same time as chapters 8 and 9.

1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. 2 He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.” (Rev. 10:1-4 NIV).

The mighty angel is probably Jesus.  The description of this angel certainly points to him.  He is robed in a cloud like the Son of Man in Dan 7:13, who approaches the Ancient of Days.  The angel has a rainbow above his head like the one who sits on the throne in Rev 4:3.  His face was like the sun as Jesus’ face shone in his transfiguration (Matt 17:2) and in 1:16 when John saw him.  God went before Israel as a pillar of fire in the wilderness (Exod 13:21, 22; 14:24).  His voice is like a roaring lion as you might expect of the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5).  This angel might be compared to the angel of the LORD visitations in the OT, who were in fact Jesus in his pre-incarnate state.

The mighty angel sets his foot on the sea and on the land.  In Deuteronomy, God promised Israel that wherever they set their foot would belong to them (Deut 11:24).  The promise is repeated in Josh 1:3.  Therefore, when the angel sets his feet on both land and sea, he is declaring his sovereignty over both.  The mention of the sea means it is also a declaration of sovereignty over evil and the devil himself, because in Revelation the sea is generally representative of chaos and evil (see 13:1).

The angel spoke in a powerful way, and the seven thunders spoke.  We don’t know what they said because John was told not to write it down.  If nothing else, this calls into question a lot of people who claim to go into heaven and come back with endless revelations of what God is doing there.  Some things are not meant to be disclosed to God’s people.

5 Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6 And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay!  7 But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets” (Rev. 10:5-7 NIV).

Here the reference is to the final chapter of Daniel.  “The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, ‘It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.’” (Dan. 12:7 NIV).  These passages are very similar, but there is a distinct difference.  In Dan 12, Daniel is told about the end of time and the resurrection of the dead.  He asks how long until this happens.  The response is that it will be time, times and half a time, that is, 3 ½ years.  The numbers are symbolic in Daniel as well as in Revelation, signifying a finite time.  However, in Revelation, the statement of the angel is different.  “There will be no more delay!”  The saints under the altar ask in 6:10 ask, “How long?” and the response is “a little longer”.  But this passage indicates that the end is imminent when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet.

The mystery of God, announced in advance to the prophets (as per Amos 3:7), is the truth of the gospel of Christ (see Rom 16:25-26).  The mystery of God, that is the gospel of Christ (Eph 6:19), includes both salvation for those who believe in Christ and judgement for those who do not (see John 3:16-18).  When the seventh angel sounds his trumpet the mystery of God will be accomplished.  The judgement of the wicked will be completed and the salvation of the saints will come to its fullness.  This will mean the end of suffering for the saints and complete vindication before all.  This is called a mystery because it must be revealed to people.  Only those who hear and believe the gospel can understand what God is doing in history.  That is what the book of Revelation is about.  It explains the events of history from a heavenly perspective.

8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’” 10 I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. 11 Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.” (Rev. 10:8-11 NIV).

This scene is in John’s present.  It is reminiscent of what happened to Ezekiel.  In Ezek 2 God spoke to him and called him to be a prophet to a rebellious nation that would not listen to him.  He was told to eat what was given to him by God.  Then he was given a scroll covered with “words of lament and mourning and woe” (2:10).  Ezekiel was told to eat the scroll and speak to the people.  He ate it and “it tasted as sweet as honey” in his mouth (3:1-3).  In our Revelation passage, John ate the scroll and thereby identified with its words completely.  The scroll was sweet in John’s mouth but sour in his stomach.  Although Ezekiel does not mention the part about being sour in the stomach, since the words are of lament, mourning and woe, it would not be a surprise if they made him feel sick to his stomach.

Because of the similarity to the passage in Ezekiel, we should understand this as John’s call (or a renewed call) to be a prophet.  This is made explicit when he is told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”  Just like Ezekiel before him, John will have to speak God’s words to people who do not want to listen to him.  The word of God is sweet, that is, good and true, but it brings a sourness because it is a word of judgement to those who will not listen and repent.  Few are happy to hear it and therefore the prophet will suffer for his prophesying.

John receives a scroll from the hand of the angel.  There is a clear parallel in Revelation, when in chapter 5 Jesus takes “the scroll from the right hand of him who sits on the throne” (5:7).  When Jesus takes the scroll, he does so because he has authority to open its seals and unleash the judgements of God upon the wicked.  When John takes the scroll, his commission is to proclaim as a prophet.  Prophets don’t just make predictions about the future.  John’s task is to proclaim what God is doing because of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  He calls the world to repentance through the gospel.  He calls Christians to hold fast to the truth of the gospel in the midst of suffering.

Chapter 11 is a continuation of the theme of prophesying, which is effectively proclaiming the gospel to the world.  The events of chapter 11 are part of the interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpet, so they take place during the time of the six trumpet blasts.  In chapter 11 are two witnesses who prophesy for 3 ½ years.  But before we get to that, there is a scene in which John is told to measure the temple.

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.” (Rev. 11:1-2 NIV).

Measuring the temple is an allusion to Ezekiel chapters 40 to 48.  In those chapters an angel measures the eschatological temple.  The words “measured”. “measuring”, “measure” and “measures” appear 37 times in those chapters.  Measuring is probably intended to imply protection or preservation (see Ps 48:12-13; Zech 2:1-2; Ezek 40:3).  God will be in his temple, with the altar and the worshipers.  He will not abandon the temple nor despise the worship which happens within it.

This passage is controversial, like every other passage in this book.  Many people assume it means that there must be a physical temple in Jerusalem for this to have meaning.  Revelation was probably written about 90 AD, but the Jerusalem temple was destroyed completely in 70 AD when the Romans sacked Jerusalem.  If this passage refers to the physical temple, it would need to be rebuilt at some point in history, which has certainly not happened as yet.  I do not believe that this is referring to a literal, physical temple for several reasons.  Elsewhere in the book, the temple is symbolic (3:12; 13:6) and there is nothing in Revelation that explicitly speaks of the temple being rebuilt.  But most importantly, there is no good reason why God would desire a rebuilt temple.  Jesus has offered the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice for sins.  Therefore, what would occur in a rebuilt temple that could possibly please God?  Since the temple in 11:2 is not literal, it must refer to the church, as it does in the epistles (1 Cor 3:16-17; Eph 2:19-21; 1 Pet 2:5).  The holy city is similarly a reference to the church because this is the name given to the church at the end of the book (21:2, 10).

The next difficult part is the meaning of the outer court.  The outer court or the court of the Gentiles was the area immediately outside the temple proper.  Anyone could enter this part of the temple, but Gentiles and people who were ritually unclean could not enter the rest of the temple.  Gentiles in 11:2 implies those who are unbelievers.  Trampling suggests oppression and violence (see Amos 2:7; Zech 10:5; Isa 1:12; 25:10; Lam 1:15).[1]  I think the most likely understanding of the outer court being given to the Gentiles is that unbelievers will be able to oppress and do violence to the church for a set period of time.  God is in control of this because he is the one who has given the outer court to the Gentiles.  They will not go beyond what he decides.  The fact that the temple is measured means that God does not abandon his church.  Even as the church suffers, they are kept by God in his love and their salvation and heavenly reward is not lost.  The persecution cannot prevent the church being in the presence of God and offering acceptable worship.

Possibly the least understood aspect of this chapter and also chapter twelve is the timeframe.  In chapters 11 and 12, three and a half years is described as 42 months or 1260 days or times, time and half a time.  These are all alluding to Dan 12:7.  A great deal of Christian teaching has been dedicated to when these 3 ½ years will occur.  However, the most important thing to remember is that the time is not literal.  This has greater depth of meaning, but most basically it implies a finite amount of time.  Seven is the number of perfection or the number of God.  Three and a half is half of seven, so not perfect or complete.  This means that persecution of the church cannot go on forever.  It is finite and God will end it.

“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. (Rev. 11:3-12 NIV)

The further we go into the book the more fanciful are the explanations of the passages in preaching.  I am going to attempt to explain the two witnesses in a non-fanciful fashion.  For starters, we need to rid ourselves of the baggage that goes with a church raptured half-way through a seven-year tribulation.  The three and a half years refers to the whole church age.

There are some clues in the passage to tell us who the two witnesses are.  On the surface they look like Moses and Elijah because fire and shutting up the heavens is what Elijah did, and turning water into blood and striking the earth with plagues is what Moses did.  These two are the archetype prophets.  But, their specific characteristics are smoothed between the two witnesses, suggesting they are in fact representative of those who prophesy.  Those who prophesy are the church because the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy (19:10).  Another good reason to believe that the two witnesses is found in 11:4.  There they are called “the two olive trees” and “the two lampstands who stand before the Lord of the earth”.  In 1:20, the lampstands are the churches.  The two olive trees who stand before the Lord of all the earth refers to Zech 4:11-14.  In the original context, this designates Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the king.  Who are priests and kings in Revelation if not the church?  Jesus Christ “has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father” (Rev. 1:6a NIV; also 5:10).

Let’s now consider what they do and what is done to them.  One commentator suggests that this passage is modelled on the life of Jesus.  The life of the church as witness to Jesus is parallel to the life of Jesus himself.  Jesus ministered for about three years and the witnesses prophesy for 3 ½ years.  Jesus did great signs and the witnesses have power to do great plague signs.  At the end of his ministry, Jesus was killed in Jerusalem and spent three days in the grave.  At the end of their testifying, the two witnesses were attacked by the beast and killed and their bodies lie in the street of Jerusalem (called Sodom and Egypt – places of wickedness and oppression of God’s people) for 3 ½ days.  Jesus ascended to heaven in a cloud of glory and the witnesses do the same.

What does this all mean?  The church proclaims the judgement of God upon sinners.  This is the fire that comes out of their mouths and consumes their enemies.  The church does not so much make the plagues happen as it declares that Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth and Lord of all.  Those who reject this experience God’s judgement in history.  The message of the gospel is so often offensive that the people who live on the earth just want the witnesses to stop.  They try to shut the church up and would kill all those who profess the name of Christ if it were possible.  It seems that at some point in time, or perhaps at many points in time, the church will appear utterly defeated and dead.  This has happened in recent centuries – e.g., in 1967 Albania declared itself the first atheist state and set out to destroy everything religious; in 1614, Christianity was declared illegal in Japan and for over 250 years Christians went underground.  The people of the earth will celebrate the end of the church.  However, God will vindicate his witnesses, just as he vindicated Jesus in resurrection.  The church will come back to life and terrify those who see it.  The witnesses are dead for 3 ½ days in contrast to their witness of 3 ½ years.  The temporary defeat is much shorter than the time of witness.  The vindication appears to happen at the end of history.

13 At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.

Earthquakes are mentioned repeatedly in this book in regard to the final judgement (see 6:12; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18) but this seems to be prior to the final judgement.  It is merely a taste of what is to come.  It does not destroy everything but only a tenth.  People are scared and give glory to “the God of heaven”.  Possibly, this means that some people come to a place of repentance before it is too late.

The second woe is passed.  That was the woe announced by the sixth trumpet.  The third woe must be the one announced by the seventh trumpet.

15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. 18 The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small– and for destroying those who destroy the earth.” 19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm. (Rev. 11:15-19 NIV).

This is the end of history, when all the enemies of God have been defeated and judged.  The kingdom of God has arrived in all its fullness.  I don’t need to say much about this at all except that no matter what the world does in opposition to the saints, God will bring about his kingdom and the saints, who have upheld the testimony of Christ, will live with him in eternal glory.  Next time, in chapter 12, we see the church age again from another angle.  That chapter reveals who and what is behind the human persecutors of the church.