Living With the Coming Kingdom (Revelation 10:1-11:19)

 Sermon for Milledgeville & Whitestown UMC...

Living With the Coming Kingdom (Revelation 10:1-11:19)

 

A king has 3 cups in front of him. The first 2 cups are full, the third cup is empty. What is his name?

King Philip III

 

Did you hear about the king who was only 12 inches tall.

He was a terrible king but a great ruler.

 

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. 
Revelation 10:1

God holds a scroll sealed with 7 seals. As the 7^th seal is broken, seven angels blow seven trumpets bringing plagues, disaster, and war, which unravels the current world, birthing a new one. Soon the 7^th trumpet will announce the reign of King Jesus.

 

After the 6^th trumpet sounds and hellish army is loosed upon the earth, John sees a mighty angel from heaven standing with one foot in the sea and one foot on land. This is symbolic of God’s authority the earth. Some act like God has no authority. They go on doing as they wish, believing God will neither reward nor punish.

 

With loud cracks of thunder, the angel speaks a secret message from God. I find that to be odd. Jesus brought John to heaven to reveal what must take place. (Rev 4:1) Why command secrecy? Mystery invites us to put on our thinking caps. The angel gives us a hint.

 

“There will be no more delay… when the seventh angel blows his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, as he announced to his servants the prophets.” (Rev 10:6b-7)

 

The hint points to what the prophets called the Day of the Lord. Christians call it Judgement Day. The prophets describe the Day of the Lord as a day of wrath, divine judgment upon the wicked. God is long-suffering, but there comes a time when God will no longer hold His anger. According to the angel, “There will be no more delay.”

 

The Day of the Lord is intervention, seismically correcting the course of human history. The Day of the Lord is horrifying to the wicked but good news for those who suffer injustice and persecution. With the Day of Wrath comes the messiah and His never-ending kingdom of justice, righteousness and peace. Immorality is no longer celebrated but is cast out. Love will rule.

 

The prophet Malachi said, “See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. ² But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. (Mal 4:1-2) 

 

The mighty angel holds a scroll, which John is told to eat. This is a scriptural echo of the prophet Ezekiel’s experience. God told Ezekiel to eat a scroll written with lamentation, mourning and woe. (Ezekiel 3:3-5)

 

When John ate the scroll held by the mighty angel, it turned bitter in his stomach. And just like Ezekiel, John is compelled to proclaim the message from God.

 

Why? Because God wants the world to repent and heed His voice, so that oppression, injustice and wickedness will cease. Before the great and terrible Day of the Lord, God sends prophets to speak His word so that the people might turn toward God in joyful obedience. Peter wrote that God’s patience means salvation. (2Pt 3:15)

 

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance (2Pt 3:9)

 

John is given a measuring rod to measure the temple and its inner courts, but not the outer courts. This is a scriptural echo of both Ezekiel and Zechariah. Measuring the temple symbolizes God's plan for judgment, restoration, and protection. 

In Ezekiel an angel measures a new temple for Jerusalem. When Ezekiel received this vision, the temple built by Solomon lay in rubble. Measuring the temple was a sign of hopeful restoration for a nation who’d lost everything.

 

When Zechariah prophesied, Jerusalem was desolate. Its walls were broken, its temple destroyed, and its palace and homes burned. He had a vision of a man measuring the city of Jerusalem. He was told that Jerusalem will be so full of people and livestock that it will exceed its walls. God will place a wall of protection around Jerusalem, like a wall of fire.

 

John’s vision of the measuring rod is a hopeful message of restoration and protection. He is told not to measure the outer courtyard of the temple because it is given over to be trampled upon by the nations for a period of 42 months. That’s 7 months short of the Year of Jubilee when all debts are canceled in a sabbath year of rest and renewal. The persecution of the Church will continue, but a remnant will be protected. Restoration is coming. Soon everything will be reset and righteousness restored.

 

While the nations trample the holy city, God will send two witnesses. They will proclaim God’s message for the same amount of time that the nations persecute the Church. 1260 days is 42 months. 6 x 7 is 42. 6 is the number of man, not yet 7, not quite complete, certainly not divine. 42 months is not a literal period. It is a symbolic a period when things will go on as they always have under humankind with wickedness and injustice. But it points to liberation, when the King comes, and in His name all oppression shall cease.

 

Just as Ezekiel was sent to speak to Israel who refused God’s message, so also the nations will not accept the message of the two witnesses. In fact, they will kill God’s messengers.  

 

There are many ideas about the identity of the two witnesses. Some say it’s Moses and Elijah, men who represent the scripture of the Old Testament, the law and the prophets. Others think it to be Peter and Paul, the apostles to the Jews and Gentiles. Both were executed in Rome in the first century before the writing of Revelation. While this vision may reveal future events, we will find that visions in Revelation also mythically present history. Much of John’s visions are a re-presentation of Old Testament prophecy, and Church history.

 

The two martyrs are dressed in sackcloth, a symbol of intense grief.  God grieves the willful sinfulness of the world. His faithful grieve too.

 

The two witnesses are said to be two olive trees. This is a reference to Zechariah 4, in which he had a vision of two olive trees feeding olive oil to the menorah, the holy seven-branched lampstand that illuminated the holy place in the temple. The angel told Zechariah, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. 

 

God promises His Spirit to empower the governor of Judea, Zerubbabel, son of David, to rebuild the temple. The olive trees represent God’s spiritual power through two anointed servants, the Son of David and the High Priest. The olive oil, God’s Spirit, keeps the menorah lampstand burning bright. The lampstand represents God’s light blessing a restored Israel.

 

The two witnesses speak fire upon God’s adversaries. This symbolizes the power of God’s truth. The apostle Paul wrote of the power of God’s truth in his 2^nd letter to the Corinthians.

 

We do not wage war according to human standards, ⁴ for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments ⁵ and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. (2Co 10-3-5)

The two witnesses have the divine power of the prophets. To stop the rain from falling. Elijah did that. To turn rivers to blood, Moses did that. The Two Witnesses are like Moses and Elijah, representatives of the Law and the Prophets, God’s word.

 

Jesus is the light of the world. He is the lampstand of the world, providing divine illumination. The New Testament is fed with the spiritual words of the Law and the Prophets, the two olive trees. When Jesus was transfigured, he met with Moses and Elijah. They were speaking to Jesus and encouraging Him. The law and the prophets are fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 

Once the two witnesses complete their mission of speaking God’s message, they will be killed by the beast who comes out of the abyss. We haven’t met the beast yet, but we will. He is closely aligned with Satan, the serpent dragon.

 

The beast will conquer and kill the two witnesses. The martyrs will lie dead on display for all to see. The people of the world will celebrate the silencing of God’s truth. The two martyrs die in Jerusalem, referred to as Sodom and Egypt. Sodom is symbolic of extreme wickedness. Egypt is symbolic of oppression, slavery, and idolatry.

 

After 3 ½ days, God resurrects the two martyrs. God’s word cannot be conquered. It is alive and sharper than a two-edged sword.

 

3 ½ is a reference to Daniel.

 

The beast will speak words against the Most High… The holy ones will be delivered into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. (Dan 7:25)

 

Terrified, the people watch as the two witnesses are taken up to heaven. Jerusalem is shaken by an earthquake. 7,000 die. The rest repent. Fully convicted, they turn toward God in praise. And that ends the 6^th trumpet, and the 2^nd woe.

 

And now the 3^rd woe. The seventh and final trumpet blows.

All of heaven shouts,

 

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord
    and of his Messiah,
and he will reign forever and ever.”

 

The 24 elders fall before the throne of God in worship at the announcement of Christ’s reign.

 

“You have taken your great power and begun to reign!” (Rev 11:17b)

 

The time has come for judgment, reward and destruction. God will judge the living and the dead according to their deeds. God will reward his faithful who serve Him. And God will put an end to all who corrupt this earth with wickedness, injustice, and oppression.

 

The King is coming! The blessing of God is ours forever. Live with the coming king. Look forward in hope that one day all the crazy chaos and pain of this life will come to an end. Love will rule. Peace shall reign. And every tear will be wiped away. The king has conquered even death.

 

Put this verse to memory.

 

Our citizenship is in heaven—we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil 3:20)

 

Salvation is coming to the universe. All shall be well, and all shall be well, and every manner of thing shall be well.