THE THIRD WOE: GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then I heard a loud voice in Heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

“Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

Revelation 12:10-12

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

It was an epic war in Heaven between Michael, a warrior archangel of God, and the red dragon representing Satan, the Father of lies and great accuser, but in the end it was really a lop sided victory. God’s power in Michael far exceeded the strength of the devil who the scriptures tell us was “hurled to the earth” along with the “angels” who were “with him” (Revelation 12:7-9).

In today’s message, we look at what happened right after Michael’s victory as a spokesperson in Heaven delivered a proclamation that contained good and bad news. Look again at those words here as we continue to study Revelations’ twelfth chapter:

Then I heard a loud voice in Heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

“Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” Vv. 10-12

In this passage, we easily see the good and bad news spelled out, beginning with the good. For Satan had been soundly defeated and evicted for good from the heavens.

“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

After losing the war in Heaven, the devil no longer had access to Heaven and the opportunity to serve as “the accuser” of people before “God day and night”. The scriptures tell us that this triumph was accomplished through the mighty “blood of the Lamb (Jesus the Messiah) and the Word of their testimony”, for both serve to make all Christian believers justified before their Lord, made just as if they had never sinned as they are washed white as snow by the precious blood of Jesus. The perfect, flawless Word of God which promises that those who believe in His Son will not perish but gain eternal life (John 3:16) cancels any chance the devil has of making his case for the destruction of Hell. He might try and look for company to share in the everlasting damnation, darkness, and torment that is his destiny but he won’t find it among those who have placed their hope in Jesus as Savior.

This was the source of the great rejoicing in the heavens as Satan was vanquished to the earth forever but as we see, there was bad news accompanying the good. For we read that woe was coming “to the earth and the sea” because the “devil” had been dispatched there and he was “filled with fury” in knowing that “his time” was short and coming to an end just like the earth he was now condemned to.

Victory over Satan had happened in Heaven and soon it would happen on earth as well but not before the devil seeks to wreak more havoc on the earth as we see as we look at the next event within the third woe tomorrow. Until then, let’s give thanks and rejoice as they will one day in the heavens when Satan is conquered and victory is won through the blood of the Lamb and the Word of the testimony forever. For anyone who believes in Jesus as Savior, wins the victory over the enemy, death, and the grace for all eternity.

Indeed, as the Apostle Paul proclaimed:

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:25

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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THE THIRD WOE: A WAR IN HEAVEN

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then war broke out in Heaven.

Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in Heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Revelation 12:7-9

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As the events of the third woe began to unfold after the sounding of the seventh trumpet and an ensuing period of worship, we saw where a pregnant woman about to give birth faced an evil red dragon who hoped to kill the baby immediately after birth. In yesterday’s message, we looked at how the pregnant woman represented Israel and the newborn baby was none other than Jesus who God quickly snatched up and kept in His care on His throne in Heaven while the woman was ushered away to the wilderness, also protected by God while there.

So what happened to the red dragon, Satan?

We find out in today’s passage and our continued study of Revelation, chapter 12. Here’s what we learn from God’s Word:

Then war broke out in Heaven.

Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in Heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Vv. 7-9

As Jesus and Israel were ushered into safety, we read where a war ensued in Heaven between Satan, the “great dragon” and “ancient serpent also known as “the devil”, and “Michael and his angels”. We further read that Satan had his own angels, angels who had fallen just like him and had been enlisted to battle.

As we have seen elsewhere in the Book of Revelation, events and figures connect back to the Old Testament and the angel Michael can be added to this list. For in the Book of Daniel as well as the New Testament letter of Jude, we find him mentioned as an angel warrior who serves God by engaging in spiritual combat like we see here in Revelation 12.

It should be no surprise that we see Satan in a Heaven encounter. The scriptures indicate that he would make appearances there from time to time and perhaps the most well known comes in the Book of Job where Satan, which translates to accuser, lives up to his name and tries to convince God that Job wasn’t quite as right and righteous as believed. You’ll remember that God gave Satan permission to bring tragedy and affliction onto His servant but stopped short of giving permission to kill him.

So here, we find Satan back in Heaven and having failed in trying to kill the newborn Jesus, he enters into battle with Michael and it doesn’t go well for we read where he was soundly beaten, not powerful enough to exceed the strength God placed on His archangel and other fighting angels. The scriptures tell us that the devil and his angels “lost their place in Heaven” as they were “hurled down” onto “the earth”.

Unfortunately, we are going to see that Satan was far from done for he would continue to wreak havoc and seek to lead “the whole world astray” into Hell where they would eventually abide with him in darkness, torture, and torment forever. We’re going to see this happen as we continue to move through the happenings under the third woe and tribulation period as we move toward the second coming of Jesus and the final conquering of the devil before the earth and heavens as we know them are no more.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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THE THIRD WOE: THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.

Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.

She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to His throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

Revelation 12:1-6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The sounding of the seventh trumpet led to a proclamation of the world becoming the Lord’s kingdom, one He would reign and rule over forever. This prompted the twenty four elders to fall on their faces, worshipping God and proclaiming:

“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.”

“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.”

And with that, the scriptures at the end of Revelation, chapter 11 tell us that the temple of God “in Heaven was opened” to where “the ark of his covenant” could be seen within. This triggered “flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm” which signaled that the third and final woe, the worst of the three was about to begin and we will see this play out into Revelation, chapter 19.

As we turn to the opening six verses of Revelation 12, we see the first main event of the third woe, an encounter between a pregnant woman and a dragon hoping to destroy the son the woman carried as soon as he was born. Look again at these verses here:

A great sign appeared in Heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.

Then another sign appeared in Heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.

She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to His throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

In the continuing vision John had of the tribulation period yet to come, we read where he saw a yet another “great sign” which “appeared from Heaven” in the form of “a woman” who was “clothed with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head”. Symbolically, this woman was Israel and the “twelve stars on her head” represented the twelve tribes of Israel.

In our passage, we see where the woman “was pregnant” and crying out in pain because “she was about to give birth”. The baby she was carrying was none other than Jesus Himself who we know had a genealogy that traced all the way back through the history of the Israelite people (Matthew 1).

At this moment, as the woman was going through birth pains, John sees another “sign” which “appeared in Heaven”, an “enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads”. This dragon had a tail that “swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to earth”, giving us a good visual of just how big and powerful it was. It’s immediately evident the dragon was up to evil because we read where it “stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth” so it could “devour her child the moment he was born”.

So, what did the dragon represent?

In verse 9 of this chapter, we read where it is none other than Satan who is further described as an ancient serpent. Back in Genesis, chapter 3, he appeared as a serpent who enticed Adam and Eve to sin and here, that serpent has spent the entirety of the history of the world and mankind, doing his wicked work, a wicked work that was soon going to come to an end.

More on that later but as we return to our message for today, we find the woman successfully giving birth to a “male child” who entered creation to “rule all the nations with an iron scepter” and so we now know why Satan was so anxious to eliminate Him. As we see in our passage, he never got the chance because the baby “was snatched up to God and to His throne” while “the woman fled into the wilderness” into a place of protection “prepared for her by God”. He would take care of her there for 1,260 days, the same period of time we saw before in chapter 11 which equaled 42 months.

With the woman gone, the stage was set for a battle involving the dragon, one that we will look at tomorrow as the events of the third woe continue.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE SEVENTH TRUMPET: PROCLAMATION, WORSHIP, AND PRAISE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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 forever and ever.”

And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 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. 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.”

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.

Revelation 11:15-19

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

After the seventh seal was broken by Jesus on the scroll He took possession of from His Father God, a series of seven angels armed with trumpets set off judgments on the earth when they sounded the horn when their time came. Each of these judgments was progressively worse with the final three being the most severe. These three are known as the “Three Woes” based on the words proclaimed by an eagle that soared above the earth after the events set off by the fourth trumpet had concluded (Revelation 8:13).

As we get to the closing verses of Revelation, chapter 11, we finally come to the sounding of the seventh and final trumpet which as we see in today’s passage set off a preliminary proclamation followed by a time of worship and praise unto the Lord. Look again at today’s verses:

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 forever and ever.”

And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 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. 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.”

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. Vv. 15-19

Right after the seventh trumpet was blown, we read the words of “loud voices in Heaven” who cried out:

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

God’s plan for the world and mankind was about to enter into its closing stages as He was set to make ‘the kingdom of the world” the total domain of Him and Jesus, His Son, the Messiah, where they would both “reign forever” in complete, unrivaled authority and power. It was definitely a time of celebration over how good and righteousness was soon to gain total victory over evil and wickedness so it’s not much of a surprise how dedicated and devoted worship would break out in Heaven. This was initiated by the “twenty-four elders” who were “seated on their thrones before God”. The scriptures tell us that they “fell on their faces” and declared their thanksgiving and praise unto their Lord, 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. 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.”

At the heart of this heartfelt tribute to their “Lord God Almighty” was a joy-filled appreciation over Him taking His “great power” so to reign over the entire world. This applied authority would bring wrath to “the nations” who “were angry” as “the time” of “judging the dead”, “destroying those who destroy the earth”, and “rewarding” the servant prophets as well as all “people” who revered His name, whether “great or small”. It was a long time coming but one thing is for sure. It was coming in God’s perfect time and in His perfect way.   

After the proclamation and praises, we read where the temple of God was opened wide for all to see to include the “ark of His covenant” which in Old Testament times was to be kept isolated from everyone except the high priest who would enter the Holy of Holies once a year to offer atonement for all the Israelite people (known as the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur).

Now, the temple was open wide as God came to rule and reign on earth with His Son Jesus. To usher in the final events after the seventh trumpet was sounded, the third woe that we’ll see spans across the Book of Revelation to chapter 19. The scriptures tell us that the prelude to what was to come came in the way of “flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm” happening on the earth.

Indeed, the judgments comprising the third woe, the greatest woe yet, were set to begin and we’ll start to look at them as we move onto Revelation, chapter 12 tomorrow.  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

A POWERFUL PAIR OF WITNESSES (PART 2)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 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.

For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 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.

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. 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.

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.

The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.

Revelation 11:7-14

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In the interim period between the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpets with their associated judgments, we find an event in the eleventh chapter of Revelation, one involving “two witnesses” sent from Heaven to earth by God. In yesterday’s message, we saw where the arrival of these two entities fulfilled the prophecy given by the Old Testament prophet, Zechariah.

You’ll remember that the two witnesses were dispatched to Jerusalem where they were to prophesy for 1,260 days while dressed in sackcloth (v.3). This coincided with the period of time that the holy city would be under the siege of persecution from the Gentiles (v.2). The scriptures tell us that these two witnesses were not sent by God without a defense mechanism for we read where they both could emit “fire” out of “their mouths” that would consume “their enemies”. They also possessed the power to “shut up the heavens” so there would be no rain as they were “prophesying”, to “turn the waters into blood”, and to “strike the earth with every kind of plague as often” as they liked.

So what would happen to them at the end of the 42 months of prophesying?

We find out in today’s passage and the rest of this message, the second and last of this short series. Look again at the Word of God in Revelation 11:

Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 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.

For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 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.

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. 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.

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.

The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon. Vv. 7-14

At the beginning of Revelation, chapter 9, we read that the fifth trumpet was sounded, sending a star falling from Heaven to earth. This “star” believed to be a fallen angel, had a key that was used to open “the Abyss” which unleashed scorpion-like locusts and five months of torment and torture on all the people of the earth except the 144,000 who had been marked for protection by God.

Well, as we see in chapter 11, the scorpion-like locusts weren’t the only dangers lurking in the Abyss for after the two witnesses finish their prophesying, we read where a beast will emerge, attacking, overcoming, and killing them. “Their bodies will then lie in the public square of the great city where Jesus was crucified, the city which will also bear the figurative names of “Sodom and Egypt”. For three and a half days, the bodies of the two witnesses will remain unburied as “some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial”. Further, the scriptures tell us that the “inhabitants of the earth will gloat over” their killing and “celebrate by sending each other gifts”, overjoyed that the “two prophets” were no longer bringing torment on “those who live on the earth”.

This celebration was short lived because we read where God sent “the breath of life” into His two messengers, resurrecting them and bringing “terror” to “those who saw them”. And with that, “a loud voice from Heaven summoned the two prophets, saying, “Come up here” and so they did, ascending to “Heaven in a cloud” as “their enemies looked on”. Their sky gazing was abruptly interrupted by chaos as a “severe earthquake” struck Jerusalem, causing “a tenth of the city” to collapse and killing “seven thousand people”.

As for the survivors, they were left “terrified” and immediately “gave glory to the God of Heaven” but any sense of peace they felt was about to end. For in tomorrow’s message, we will see the judgment, “the third woe”, is unleashed when the seventh trumpet sounds.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

A POWERFUL PAIR OF WITNESSES (PART 1)

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Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then I was given a measuring stick, and I was told, “Go and measure the Temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers. But do not measure the outer courtyard, for it has been turned over to the nations. They will trample the holy city for 42 months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will be clothed in burlap and will prophesy during those 1,260 days.”

These two prophets are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of all the earth. If anyone tries to harm them, fire flashes from their mouths and consumes their enemies. This is how anyone who tries to harm them must die. They have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall for as long as they prophesy. And they have the power to turn the rivers and oceans into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.

Revelation 11:1-6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

After the sixth trumpet is blown by its appointed angel in Heaven, one third of the world’s population will be killed by a marauding, supernatural army which is set loose on the earth. Unfortunately, in the aftermath of such loss, those who survive will not repent of their sins but continue living in disobedience and disrespect toward God.

As we move from there to chapter 10, we found the first of two events that will precede the sounding of the seventh and final trumpet. There, an angel comes down from Heaven standing on the earth with one foot on land and one in the sea. After pronouncing the coming fulfillment of God’s judgment after the seventh trumpet is blown, John is told by a voice from Heaven to take and eat the small scroll that was resting unrolled in the hand of the angel. We read where John was obedient to this command and as he ate the scroll, it was as sweet as honey while in his mouth but then upset his stomach once it passed there. This represented the goodness of God’s judgment and the bitterness that would come on those who suffered through it.

Today, we move onto chapter 11 where we find the second event that happened before the seventh trumpet will be sounded. As we see in today’s passage, this event will be centered on two unidentified witnesses who we will look at in this short two part series. Let’s start by looking at the first six verses of this chapter:

Then I was given a measuring stick, and I was told, “Go and measure the Temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers. But do not measure the outer courtyard, for it has been turned over to the nations. They will trample the holy city for 42 months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will be clothed in burlap and will prophesy during those 1,260 days.”

These two prophets are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of all the earth. If anyone tries to harm them, fire flashes from their mouths and consumes their enemies. This is how anyone who tries to harm them must die. They have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall for as long as they prophesy. And they have the power to turn the rivers and oceans into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.

Here, we find John given a vision of an event yet to come in Jerusalem, where yet another period of persecution would happen. Here, the nations (in some translations, the Gentiles) would come upon “the holy city” and “trample” it for 42 months which if you divide by 30 equals “42 months”. This period correlates to the period of prophesying performed by the “two witnesses” God was sending. Although these two witnesses will be “clothed in burlap”, they shouldn’t be underestimated as weak in any way for the scriptures tell is that God will give them power so that if anyone tried “to harm them”, they would flash fire “from their mouths” which would “consume their enemies”. They also will have “the power to shut the sky so that no rain” would be able to fall “for as long as they prophesy”. They would also be able “to turn the rivers and oceans into blood as well as “strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish”.

Not the kind of people you would want to be against you, for sure.

We’ll read the rest of their story in tomorrow’s message but before that, I didn’t want to finish this lesson without showing a connection back to the Old Testament prophet Zechariah. Here’s what we find in the fourth chapter of the book that bears his name:

Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. He asked me, “What do you see?”

I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?”

Again I asked him, “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?”

He replied, “Do you not know what these are?”

“No, my lord,” I said.

So he said, “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.” Vv. 1-3, 11-14

Fast forward now to Revelation, chapter 11 and here we find the “two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth” in the person of the two powerful witnesses, “the two prophets” and the “two lampstands” standing “before the Lord of all the earth”.

Yet once again, we see how the tapestry of the total word of God is interwoven with strands that link the Old and the New Testaments. It’s completely amazing to me and I pray it is to you as well.

I hope you’ll come back to see what happens with these two witnesses in tomorrow’s message and part two of this series.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

CONNECTED TO THE PROPHETS OF OLD

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.”

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.’“  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.

Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”

Revelation 10:8-11

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As Revelation, chapter 10 opens, we find an angel coming down from Heaven and standing on the earth with one foot in the sea and one on land. In yesterday’s message, we read the following, the very last statement from the angel as he addressed the world:

“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.”

This proclamation was nothing less than a connection point between what God had told the Old Testament prophets would come and what would come in regard to His judgment on the earth, a coming fulfillment of prophecy that we get to read about in the Book of Revelation.

Hold that thought on the Old Testament prophets because we’re going to come back to it but before we do that, we need to look at the remaining verses of Revelation 10 and something John did that was commanded from Heaven. Look again at these words here:

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.”

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.’“  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.

Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.” Vv. 8-11

We learned earlier in this chapter that the angel standing on the earth was holding a “little scroll” that was lying open in his hand. This was the scroll that the voice from Heaven told John to take and eat, and He was obedient to that demand.

Now, the scriptures don’t tell us about what was on the scroll but it’s largely believed that it was a miniature version of the scroll Jesus had, the one that He was breaking the seals...and at this juncture, we know there was still a seventh seal still left intact.

This wasn’t the case with this small scroll that John ate, a scroll that was sweet as honey when in his mouth but turned his stomach sour once it went down. This was symbolic of God’s total judgment plan for the world and with this tiny scroll open, that full plan is what is believed went down into John. It tasted good at first because everything God does is good and perfect to include His judgment but once consumed, the bitterness of the judgment experience for those it falls upon is represented by John’s upset stomach.

Before we close out this particular message, we need to go back to the Old Testament and the prophet Ezekiel. Here’s what we find in chapter 3 and his encounter with God:

And He said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and He gave me the scroll to eat.

Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them. You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel—not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate. But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.”

And He said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.” Vv. 1-11

Here, we find God giving Ezekiel a scroll to eat, just as what happened to John in our passage for today. And like the scroll John ate, the scroll given to Ezekiel “tasted as sweet as honey” in his mouth as both had literally consumed the Word of God to deliver to the audience God intended.

For Ezekiel, this was a message to the “hardened and obstinate” Israelite people who were suffering through their 70 year exile to Babylon, God’s punishment for their blatant disrespect, disregard. and rebellion toward Him. Note that the prophet was to do as God commanded and deliver His message whether the Israelites listened to him or not.

John was to deliver God’s message as well. At the very end of Revelation, chapter 10, we read that he was to take God’s prophesy about His judgment plan for the world and all mankind and speak it to “many peoples, nations, languages and kings”.

Today, the words John wrote down continue to do just that, words of coming punishment that were connected to the prophets of old.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.