Admonition Podcast

Got a few more coming in.

We are in Revelation chapter 11.

You might wonder how when I did a gospel meeting down in Louisiana, I managed to go
through the entire book of Revelation in just four days.

Of course, then again, each night of the gospel meeting was about an hour and a half long.

And we went really, really fast.

ah We didn't do a lot of review either.

All right, let's begin with a word of prayer and then we'll get into our study.

A gracious father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day that you've
given to us, grateful for this book of revelation that helps us to understand the Old

Testament better, helps us to see the fulfillment of the prophets and the prophecies that
were made in the Old Testament, and also helps us to understand the message that you will

provide for and protect and deliver your people, that you will defend your church from its
enemies,

and that ultimately our concern should be about being faithful to you, knowing that there
is a reward in heaven awaiting those who are faithful.

Lord, we pray that you be with all those throughout this world who are struggling with
just such persecution.

We pray that you will be with them and help them to be strong and faithful, always serving
you no matter what comes and help us to do the same.

Help us to have a mindset ready to endure persecution

and hardship, at the same time willing to preach the truth and stand up for your Son and
the testimony of His Word.

All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, Amen.

They're all streaming in behind you.

Isaiah, you're on the wrong screen because I can't click and it won't move.

There we go.

All right.

So, chapter one of Revelation opens up and John is...

in the spirit on the Lord's Day as the text tells us, he opens the book, introduces it and
introduces who's writing it.

But this was a message that John was given.

It was sent and signified.

In other words, it was given in the form of signs, visions, pictures, not straight, normal
prose.

and it was of things that must shortly come to pass.

Verses one through three tells us that.

So when John opens the book twice in verses one and three, John tells us the things are
about to take place.

They're not way off in the future.

In the first century when John wrote it, these things were at

hand, any interpretation of the book that ignores that message that's in verses one and
two, and by the way, also is in chapter 22.

It bookends the book in chapter 22 verse five or verse six.

John says, these things are shortly to come to pass.

If you ignore what John says, guess what?

You're going to get the book wrong.

Okay.

So the events were at hand.

John is going to be there worshiping on the Lord's Day and he hears a voice behind him and
he turns around to see the one who is speaking and it is a picture, uh a representation of

Christ in a glorified state and he has in his right hand the seven stars and he's
surrounded by seven golden lambstands and he says to John, you're going to write what I

say.

You're gonna write what you see.

And so John is going to introduce the book to the seven churches of Asia Minor, and as
these churches receive the book and as they are introduced with a message from God about

their current state and about what's coming, then chapter four opens and John sees an open
door.

He goes through the open door and in the vision as he goes through the open door, because
he's presented with an open door, so you're supposed to understand he went through it, all

right, because he was told to come.

He comes into the throne room of God and he sees the one who's sitting on the throne and
he doesn't describe the one sitting on the throne, he describes the glory of the one

sitting on the throne.

He's surrounded by a rainbow of emerald.

He's one of great power.

Before him are the seven spirits of God.

Before him is the sea.

Before him are the four beasts that look every direction and that are representative of
different types of power.

And then you also have the 24 elders.

So the 24 elders have crowns of victors.

They have a victory crown upon their head.

And whenever the four beasts that are before the throne begin to praise God and declare
how worthy he is, the 24 elders come off of their thrones.

They cast their crowns before the throne and they worship God.

Then Chapter five opens, and as that occurs.

there is a book in the hand or a scroll in the hand of the one who's sitting on the throne
and it's sealed with seven seals.

It's got a progressive revelation from the one who's sitting on the throne, God, and John
wants to know what it says because it's written.

It's as though, and again, I always form this in view of like a movie, you know, when they
show the person sitting on the throne and in his right hand is the scroll.

You have that moment in the movie where the camera just zooms in and you can see the
writing on the inside and it zooms back out.

John knows it's got a revelation from God.

He wants to know what it says.

But they search heaven and earth.

They search the under the earth.

They search those who are alive, those who are dead and those who are in heaven.

And nobody's worthy to open the scroll.

Nobody has the right authority to open a seal.

All right.

So John begins to weep, but one of those in the vision comes to John and says, they'll not
weep, we found the one who's worthy.

And the one who's worthy is the lion of the tribe of Judah.

He is the lamb that was slain.

He is the alpha and the omega.

He is the first and the last.

He is the one who was, who is, and is alive forevermore.

And so the picture of Christ,

is of the lamb who is standing as if he had been slain, but he's standing, so he's not
slain, he's not dead.

And the lamb who has the seven eyes and seven horns and has the seven spirits of God goes
to the throne, takes the book, and begins to open the book.

Chapter six, the book begins to be opened, the seals begin to be opened, and inside the
first seal you have the white horse, the second seal the red horse.

Third seal of the black horse or third seal of black horse, fourth seal of the pale horse.

These progress, this imagery comes from Ezekiel, by the way.

But as you get into the fifth seal, you see the souls of those slain for the testimony of
the word of God under the altar.

And they're crying out to God, how long?

These are Christians and they're being persecuted and they're being killed.

Now, back in Revelation, Chapter two, verse 10.

you have a message to the church in which John is told to write to the church, some of you
are going to be put in prison and some of you are going to be killed.

Be faithful unto death.

Now we've often been told and rightfully so that the be faithful unto death means up to
and including.

Well these Christians had been.

Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life is what the passage says and so
here in

the fifth seal, you open the book, or He opens the revelation from God as the fifth seal
is open, and here are the Christians who have been slain for the testimony of the Word of

God, and they're crying out to God, how long you let this go on?

And they're told to rest, and they're given white robes, and they're told to rest for a
while, and then the sixth seal is open.

And sixth seal is open, you have a pre-vision of...

the judgment of God and the wrath of the lamb coming upon those who are persecuting.

But at the end of that initial picture, which is really a picture about the rest of the
book, you have a question that's asked.

In the day of the wrath of the lamb, who is able to stand?

So chapter seven opens, there's the picture from the sixth seal.

All right, chapter seven opens and the angel comes up.

and tells the four angels that are holding back the wind, they're holding back the
judgment of God, say, wait, wait, wait, wait, don't let the judgment happen yet.

We've got to mark all of God's people.

We've got to make sure we don't miss a single one.

We're going to write God's name on their forehead so we know who they are.

So in the beginning of chapter seven, all of God's people are marked and how, what's the
number of them?

144,000, there literally were only 144,000 Christians in the whole world at the time,
right?

And it was exact, not 144,001, it was just 144,000 and oh, they were all Jews because they
were all from specific tribes and there were 12,000 from each, no, no.

The number 12, some of this is gonna be important when we continue in chapter 11, the
number 12 represents God's people.

The number 1,000 represents all.

When you multiply 12 by 1,000, what do get?

12,000.

God's people and all of them.

When you multiply that by another 12, what do you get?

144,000.

You get God's people multiplied by God's people multiplied by all of them.

And they're pictured with Old Testament imagery because the whole book is pictured with
Old Testament imagery.

If you went to the Old Testament and you said, what would be a representation of God's
people?

Well, it'd be 12 tribes of Israel, wouldn't it?

Absolutely it would, okay?

So God's people multiplied by God's people multiplied by all of God's people is the
picture.

And how could we represent it?

Old Testament imagery of the tribes of Israel, okay?

So all of God's people are marked because none of God's people are going to be judged by
the judgment that's coming.

They're gonna suffer through it.

They're gonna go through it.

They're gonna endure it.

And some of them are gonna die because of it, but they're not going to be judged by it.

All right, so then you have seven angels with seven trumpets and they're about to start
sounding.

They're about to start delivering the judgments of God.

And you see there in chapter eight and chapter nine, those initial blasts from the
trumpets, you see.

partial judgment coming forth.

A third of this is affected and a third of that is affected.

Partial judgment, partial judgment, partial judgment.

So the first four sound and then you get to the last four.

Sorry, the last three, I can't do math.

The first four sound and as you get to the end of the fourth and to the beginning of the
last three, you have a series of woes that come along with the last three trumpets.

But you don't have the last three trumpets yet.

You have the first one, number five, the second one, number six, and then another Paulist.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

We got to tell the church they're going to get through this.

We've got to show them because of what's coming, because of the danger and because of the
threat and because of the persecution that's coming with this judgment and with what this

nation is doing to them that is being judged.

Rome.

that they're gonna get through it.

So before the last trumpet sounds, before the last whoa, there's pause.

And in that pause, you have a mighty angel.

comes up and he's got one foot on the land and one foot on the sea and he's holding a
little book.

What does the little book signify?

A message from God, another revelation.

So John sees the one who's clothed with a cloud, who's got the rainbow above his head.

He's a mighty representative of the throne.

And it's again, Ezekiel imagery.

And he's got a little book and he gives John the book because John's told to go take the
book.

And John consumes the book.

He eats the book and it's sweet as honey in his mouth.

But in his belly it's what?

Bitter, it's sour.

It's a message from God.

It's sweet as honey.

But it's not good news.

bitter.

Okay, the message that's going to be declared is not going to be one of sunshine and roses
and happiness.

It's going to be one of hard times.

Okay, so then we get to chapter 11.

Chapter 11 opens and we've got two witnesses.

Verses one through six, which we covered last week, we've got the two olive trees and the
lampstands and the city being measured.

Okay, so John first is told, go measure the temple, said the city, my brain's on Ezekiel,
uh go measure the temple, the temple's measured, but the word for temple is the inner

sanctuary.

And God tells Israel, or sorry, God, let me get my words out.

God tells uh John that he's gonna go measure the inner sanctuary, but don't measure the
outer courts.

because they're going to be trodden under.

He's telling John the church, because that's the temple of God in the New Testament,
right?

It's not a physical temple.

God didn't send Jesus to come build a physical temple.

You remember what they accused Jesus of so that they could crucify him?

What did one of the false witnesses come and say?

Alright, Jesus had made the statement that He would tear down the temple and rebuild it in
three days.

First they said, well this guy's a lunatic.

There's no, you see how many years it took Herod to rebuild this temple?

There's no way anybody could tear down and rebuild it in three days.

But what was Jesus talking about?

That's right, his body.

He was going to be crucified.

He was going to go down in the grave.

He was going to be resurrected in three days.

Hold on to that.

But oh, by the way, when you come to the New Testament period under the church, what is
referenced as his body?

The church.

So the temple is the body.

The body is the church.

And it's, by the way, in this chapter going to be killed for three days.

And then it's going to come back to life.

Watch it.

All right.

So John's told, go measure the temple and the outer part of it is going to be damaged.

It's going to be trodden under, but the inner part doesn't get touched.

Now that can be a picture of Jerusalem.

Can be a picture of the physical temple because that temple, what happened to it?

Not one stone left upon another.

So when you come to this passage and you open it up and you see temple and you see it was
trodden under, but not destroyed, can't be the temple in Jerusalem.

That temple is completely gone.

But then you see the olive trees.

This is a picture from Zechariah.

So the Zechariah's picture is a leader of Israel and the governor.

Zerubbabel and the high priest of Israel as the city of Jerusalem is being put back
together.

And Zechariah says, God to Zechariah says, these are my two witnesses.

They represent the leadership of my people and the spiritual leadership of my people.

Okay?

Two witnesses.

And the point is,

if we can combine the picture of the olive trees and the lamps.

The point is this, Matthew chapter five.

You are the light of the world.

City that's set on a hill.

No man lights a candle and puts it under a bushel.

God has always told His people, you are the light of me in the world.

Now what happens if you've got a candle and it's just a normal candle and you light it?

burns down until eventually does what?

Goes out.

What if you instead have a wick that is connected to a pool of oil that is constantly
being fed by a new supply of oil from an olive tree?

never goes out.

First picture of the two witnesses in chapter 11 is number one, the temple where the inner
sanctuary is never touched.

It doesn't get destroyed.

Second picture of the witnesses is the lamps connected to the olive trees where they are
continually supplied with oil.

and they never go out.

All right?

Remember, the picture again and again and again in chapters 10, 11 and 12 is two God's
people.

You're going to get through this.

You're going to continue.

God is going to provide for you.

So then we have the next picture of the two witnesses and this is chapter 11 verse 7.

I'm going to back up, though, and get just a couple of things.

Verse three, I will give power to my two witnesses and they will prophesy one thousand two
hundred and sixty days clothed in sackcloth.

Now, what did we say one thousand two hundred sixty days is?

Three and a half years, okay?

So three and a half years is going to come forward from Daniel chapter 12, time, times and
half a time.

Three and a half is half of what?

seven.

eh So instead of a perfect amount of time, you have a broken amount of time.

You have a temporary amount of time.

It's going to be hard, but it's not going to be permanent.

Okay.

So notice what he says.

He says, I will give power to my two witnesses.

They will prophesy for 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth.

These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.

And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth, devours their enemies.

And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner.

These have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy.

And they have power over waters to turn them to blood and to strike the earth with all
plagues as often as they desire.

OK, so the the prophets are here pictured in the form of Elijah and Moses.

So you've got two witnesses from Zechariah that represent God's people.

You have two pictures of prophets who represent God's people who declare God's message.

And God says they're going to declare God's message for a temporary period of time.

The message is going to be heard and nothing's going to stop them.

Everybody who tries to oppose them as God's message is proclaimed is going to lose.

But then this happened.

when they finish their testimony, verse 7, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless
pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.

Now, we're not going to go into full detail about the beast yet.

I want to hold off on that.

Just know that the beast here is the same beast as Daniel 7.

Daniel's beast is borrowed.

Daniel's pictures are borrowed.

So we're gonna get a land beast, we're gonna get a sea beast, we're gonna get all sorts of
things.

But where does it come out of?

Bottomless pit, uh that's hell, right?

As we're going through this, we need to appreciate the pictures.

The pictures that we often struggle with because we want the picture to be literal.

We want it to immediately attach to something we already recognize to be something God has
said is actually going to happen.

Well guess what?

When the Christians in the first century were persecuted and killed, did they see beasts
killing them or humans killing them?

Did they see a great big giant beast that just swept them aside or did they see an army
and centurions and emperors who were throwing them to literal beasts in a coliseum?

That's what they saw.

But in Daniel's vision, a nation is represented by what?

a beast.

If you go back to Daniel 7, the first nation Babylon is represented by a beast, the second
nation, the Medo-Persian Empire is represented by a beast, the third nation, the Grecian

Empire is represented by a beast, and the fourth nation is represented by an indescribable
beast.

Well, this is your indescribable beast.

He comes up out of the bottomless pit, makes war against them, overcomes them, and kills
them.

Now just a minute ago, for 1260 days, nobody could kill him.

Why?

Why could nobody kill them before the end of 1260 days?

The key is in the beginning of verse 7.

correct because they hadn't finished their testimony yet.

Here's the thing you need to think about and need to realize from all Old Testament
history.

No prophet dies until he's done talking.

No prophet dies until God's finished relaying his message.

Think about the young prophet that was sent to Jeroboam.

God sends this young prophet.

He goes to Jeroboam with a message saying, Jeroboam, you have rebelled against me.

I'm going to rip away the kingdom from your lineage.

You're no longer going to get to be on the throne.

And what does Jeroboam do?

He reaches out to tell them to kill this man.

And what happens to his hand when he reaches out?

withers.

While the prophet is still speaking, nobody can kill him.

While God's message is still being declared, nobody can touch him.

When the young prophet goes back home and the old prophet convinces him to stop and eat,
and then the young prophet carries on after he had been told, don't stop, don't eat, get

out of that nation.

What comes and kills him?

A lion.

And then does it consume him?

Nope.

Kills him and sits right there next to him.

See, God's messengers will declare God's message and nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing
will stop them.

But the message has been declared and now the persecution begins.

Now they're going to start dying.

Okay, so notice this, their witness is finished.

The beast ascends out of the bottomless pit, will make war against them, overcome them and
kill them.

and their dead bodies will lie in the streets of the great city which spiritually is
called Sodom, Egypt, and where our Lord was crucified.

Now this is where a lot of people struggle.

Because where was our Lord crucified?

Jerusalem, that's where the physical city was, where the Lord was crucified.

But was he crucified inside of?

was he crucified in Egypt?

Was he?

No.

This is one city described three ways.

one city described by three analogies.

And Jerusalem is not named, but it is an analogy.

Just the same way Sodom is and just the same way Egypt is.

The city where the beast comes up out of, the city that is pictured here, the city where
the people of God are killed.

isn't Jerusalem.

Because the beast that's persecuting them is Daniel's beast.

And Daniel doesn't ever speak of Jerusalem as a persecutor, does he?

The indescribable beast, the fourth kingdom, the kingdom of iron and iron mixed with clay
in the image in chapter two is what nation?

Rome.

Now over in Revelation chapter 17, and I'm trying not to spend too much time in 17 until
we get to 17.

John decided to wait until chapter 17 to give it to us.

I'm trying to wait until chapter 17 to get to it.

In chapter 17, you're going to find out that the city rests on seven hills.

And there's only one ancient city of power that rested on seven hills, and it's Rome.

When John describes the city, it's the city that rests on seven hills.

When John describes the beast, he uses Daniel's language of the indescribable beast and
the kings and the heads of that beast as his picture.

John says Daniel's indescribable beast is Rome and its persecuting power is in its kings.

but the beasts that you're going to see in the coming chapters are going to be two beasts
and a harlot.

Okay?

The persecutors that you see making war with the saints are going to be two beasts and a
harlot.

And you're seeing an initial description of the persecuting power here in these three
cities or these three locations.

Notice the description.

We read.

Let me get back here where I was.

and the dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which is spiritually, or
sorry, which spiritually is called.

Now notice, John is specific with his language.

He's telling you that the spirit of the city is Sodom.

What was Sodom known for?

corruption, abomination, but notice this, go back to the earliest description of Sodom.

What is the earliest mention of the city of Sodom?

All right.

The very first picture of Sodom is when Abram and Lot have to part ways.

They have to part ways because they're growing too big, they're getting too big.

So Abram tells Lot, you go one way, I'll go the other.

You pick, you decide.

And the very first mention of Sodom and the very first picture of Sodom we have in
Scripture is that Lot lays his eyes on the well

watered plain of sod.

And the picture of Sodom is, by the way, Lot's going to start off outside.

And then he's gonna move further in, and by the time you get to the end, he's in the city.

It is a seductive commercial city.

It is full of corruption.

It is full of the abomination and wickedness and yet it is pleasant to the eye.

It is something that looks like, you know what, if I get closer and closer to this, I'm
going to get more prosperous and more prosperous and more prosperous.

It is a picture.

of the seductive commercial nature of Rome.

Sodom represents seduction.

All right, so you've got beauty to desire something.

You've got this natural richness.

You've got seduction because when you get to the core of it, what is it?

The city of abomination.

It looks real good on the outside.

It looks beautiful and plentiful and like you're going to be successful and grow and
prosper.

And instead, it's going to kill you.

going to eat you from the inside with immorality.

There's the picture of Sodom.

Now Egypt.

What is the Old Testament picture of Egypt?

abundance, plentifulness, and what did they do to God's people?

Enslavement.

Okay?

This is the nation that enslaved God's people.

This is the nation that persecuted God's people.

and put them to task.

So you've got Sodom, looks beautiful, but is seductive.

You've got Egypt, looks plentiful, but enslaves God's people.

And then the city that's not named, the city where they killed the Lord, that's the
description.

What does Jerusalem represent in the picture?

Say what?

Rejection of God and religious corruption.

Think about it.

This is the city that represents God's people, God's religion, where God's temple is, and
I use the word God's in air quotes because guess what?

They were the people who killed the very son of God.

This is the city where they took God's primary witness.

The one in whom was no guile, the one in whom was no sin found, the one in whom where they
could not find two witnesses that could agree on anything they could put him to death for,

and they killed him anyway.

And it wasn't the people that did it.

It was the corrupt religious leaders that did it.

So you've got commercial beauty and yet corruption.

You've got prosperity in Egypt and corruption.

You've got religion and corruption in Jerusalem.

What's God saying about the great city?

The great city has three aspects that are all gonna go to war with His people.

They're gonna go to war economically, they're gonna go to war in regards to all of the
things that the nation does and enslavement, and they're gonna go to war in terms of

religion.

John is not telling you that this is the city of Jerusalem.

John's telling you it's not the city of Jerusalem.

He's telling you that it's spiritual Jerusalem, the city that claims to belong to God but
would kill his very son.

by the way, what

world power killed the Son of God.

Because the Jews didn't even have permission to kill anybody.

The Jewish nation and the Jerusalem leaders didn't have authority to take anybody's life.

So who killed the Son of God?

Rome did.

Rome has held the task because Rome is about to start persecuting Christians.

By the way, Rome, nowhere in Scripture, nowhere in the New Testament, nowhere in any
archaeological evidence or traditional evidence that we have ever persecuted the

Christians in Jerusalem.

The Jews persecuted the Christians in Jerusalem.

In the book of Acts, who saves Paul from the threat of death from the Jews in Jerusalem?

The Roman soldiers do.

Rome's never pictured as persecuting Israel, or sorry, persecuting the Christians in
Jerusalem.

Where did Rome persecute the Christians?

In Rome?

Where did Rome kill Paul?

In Rome!

Rome is pictured here as Sodom, Egypt, and Jerusalem in their spiritual application, okay?

So, verse nine, then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, nations will see their dead
bodies three and a half days and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves.

Now, if you wanted to say,

that their death was complete and finished and never again would they live again, what
number could you represent it as?

the number of completeness and perfection.

A seven, but this is what?

A broken seven.

They're going to prophesy for three and a half years.

They're gonna be dead for three and a half days.

He says short temporary period of time with a connection by the way to who else who was
dead for three days.

Christ.

Who claimed he was going to tear down the temple and rebuild it in how many days?

Three days.

Okay.

So the picture here, by the way, where does this three day picture come from when Jesus is
asked about that statement?

He said, I'll give you no other sign but this.

Jonah, who was in what?

The belly of a fish for three days.

It's a picture of a prophet.

It's a picture of the fact that God will get his message declared and God will provide for
his prophet whether the prophet likes how it happens or not.

You think it was pleasant in the belly of the fish for three days?

I don't know that waits signing up fish cruises.

Hey, you can end up here in the belly of a fish for three days.

Don't worry, you'll come out alive on the other end.

Don't think so.

And yet God is saying, listen, I know how to protect my prophet.

I know how to deliver my prophet and I know how to get my message spoken.

By the way, that particular prophet was sent to preach to what?

a great city that was either going to repent or be judged.

Over and over and over again, Old Testament pictures that represent what we're being told.

Judgment's coming, judgment's coming, judgment's coming.

My messenger will speak, my people will speak, and I will protect them, but it's not gonna
be easy.

He goes on to say, then from those, ah sorry.

So in this great city, we have,

peoples, nations, tongues, and they're all going to see the bodies of who?

The two witnesses.

They're lying in the street.

Now, as you notice this, the witnesses are killed.

They're not buried.

They're just left there.

McGuigan pointed out that when Mussolini was killed in Italy, the end of World War II,
they didn't even bury him.

They just left him dead in the street.

because of their despising of everything he had done.

The not burying is an act of despising someone.

If you care about someone, you bury them.

Who buried Jesus?

Was it the Jews?

No, it was his disciples and Joseph of Arimathea who came and requested the body to bury
him.

Okay, now the Jewish leadership needed the bodies down because of the Passover, but they
didn't care what happened to them.

Jesus's people cared what happened to them.

Okay, so notice this, they leave the bodies in the street, they're there for three and a
half days and

They did not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves and those who dwell on the
earth will rejoice over them, make merry and send gifts to one another because these two

prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

We've made mention of this already and we're going to keep mentioning it every time we run
into it.

Those who dwell on the earth doesn't represent the people alive on the planet.

It represents the enemies of God because the people who are alive on the planet who belong
to God

They're dwelling places where?

In heaven.

They're sojourners on the earth, not dwellers of the earth.

They don't have a permanent home here.

They have a sojourning place here.

All right?

And so those who dwell on the earth are gonna rejoice.

Here comes God's messengers.

Here comes God's people.

They make testimony of God's message.

They tell us that we're gonna be judged and we kill them for it.

and we think because we killed him, hey, let's have a party, we're not going to be judged
now.

Isn't that the way Israel always treated the prophets?

You know what?

If the prophet prophesies something against you, throw him in prison or kill him.

Then you don't have to worry about the prophet or the prophecy anymore, right?

Except is that how it actually worked?

No.

But that's the way the world thinks.

They were tormented

by the message.

They were tormented by the truth, so they killed the messenger.

Go back to the uh parable that Jesus gives of the vineyard keepers.

King has the vineyard, he goes off on a journey, hires vineyard keepers to keep the
vineyard, sends back a messenger to get his portion of that which the vineyard has

produced.

What do the Vineyard Keepers do?

Well, the first one, they beat and send him back.

So he sends another, beat and send him back.

Sends another, they beat or kill him.

Finally sends his son, what do they do to him?

Kill him and say, hey, we get to keep the vineyard down.

Jesus' question, what is the King going to do when he returns?

He's going to destroy the vineyard keepers.

Here's the picture.

God sends a messenger, they reject the message.

God sends a messenger, they beat the messenger.

God sends a messenger, they kill the messenger.

Does that keep the judgment from happening?

Now, we're going to read these last few verses of verses 11 through 14, and then we're
going to get into uh the rest next week.

Now, after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they
stood on their feet, and great fear fell on all those who saw them.

They kill them.

They don't even bury them.

They leave them in the street and they throw a party.

Three and half days later, what happened?

God resurrects them back to life.

And everybody's afraid.

Why are they afraid?

They just thought they had won.

They killed the messengers.

But now they realize they can't win.

Because they can't even keep the dead people dead.

He's, they see them.

Great fear fell on all those who saw them.

They heard a loud voice from heaven saying, come up here.

And they ascended to heaven in a cloud and their enemy saw them.

Who went to heaven in a cloud?

Christ and who else?

Elijah.

God's messengers keep.

Defeating all their enemies.

You can't keep God's messengers dead.

You can't kill them and have victory over them.

Now Elijah didn't die.

But they have really, really wanted him dead.

He just avoided it all points.

So again.

They heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, come up here.

And they ascended to heaven in a cloud.

And their enemy saw them.

In the same hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell.

In the earthquake, seven thousand people were killed and the rest were afraid and gave
glory to the God of heaven.

The second woe was passed.

Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

Now, all of this, if you go back into chapter nine, all of this happens in the sixth.

trumpet.

Okay, we're still in the sixth trumpet because in the sixth trumpet was a second woe.

And John just said, all right, I wrapped up the second woe.

Okay, so the sixth trumpet actually goes from chapter 9 verse 13 all the way through to
the end of or to verse 14 of chapter 11.

Here's the thing, we're still in a partial judgment phase.

We're still in a partial condemnation phase.

God says, I'm gonna send my witnesses, you're gonna tell them that they're gonna be judged
and they're going to kill you for it.

But don't worry, I'm gonna resurrect you back to life.

And then I'm gonna get you out of the judgment and I'm gonna give them what they deserve.

But it's still only partial judgment.

Still just the second woe Okay, we'll pick up in verse 15.