In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of truly digesting and applying the word of God in our lives. He contrasts this with the idea of simply chewing on the word without allowing it to penetrate our hearts. The speaker also mentions the mystery of godliness, which is Christ manifest in the flesh and his bride, the church, and the mystery of iniquity, which is Satan manifest in the flesh and his false harlot church. The sermon also touches on the concept of grace and judgment, highlighting the need for believers to not only receive the grace of God but also to judge themselves and allow the word of God to convict and transform them.

The Word of God in Revelation chapter 11 today. But before we move into that, to look at a few verses at the end of chapter 10. In our last study, we were looking at chapter 10, verse 7, where it says that when the seventh angel is going to sound this trumpet, the mystery of God will be finished. And we saw that the mystery of God is basically two mysteries that the New Testament speaks about. That is the mystery of godliness, which is Christ in the flesh, and the mystery concerning the bride of Christ, which is the church. And the other mystery is the mystery of lawlessness or iniquity, mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2, which is Satan manifest in the flesh, and his bride, which is mystery Babylon. So it's very easy to remember. The mystery of godliness is Christ manifest in the flesh, and his bride, the church. And the mystery of iniquity is Satan manifest in the flesh, which is Antichrist, and his bride, which is the false harlot church, Babylon. And this is what has been preached through his prophets through the centuries, verse 7. Then in verse 8 to 11 we see, The voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me and saying, Go take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land. And I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, Take it and eat it, and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey. And when I had eaten it, my stomach was bitter. And they said to me, You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. Now, here we see a principle, the basis on which all prophesying and preaching of the word lays. And that is, we have to receive the word of God from him, eat it, digest it. That's what John did. He took this book from the angel's hand, the word of God, and ate it, digested it, and then God said, Now, verse 11, you have to prophesy some more. For that which you have absorbed from me, says the Lord, now you can give forth to others. And you find that in this book, when he ate it, it was sweet as honey in his mouth. And that speaks of the grace of God that comes to us through his word. But it is not only sweet as honey in the mouth. By the time it goes down to the stomach and it gets digested, it's bitter. There is an element of judgment in the word, too. It's not just grace, but judgment, too. And we see that in the book of Revelation, these alternate pictures of grace and judgment. It's sweet and bitter and sweet and bitter and sweet and bitter, right through the book. We find every now and then a picture of grace and then of judgment and then of grace and then of judgment. And also this teaches us that this is how it must be in our own life. That when we receive the word of God, it's easy for us just to take the sweet part of it, just the grace part of it, and then we just keep it in our mouth. And we don't take it seriously. We don't allow the word of God to penetrate into our system. Because when we begin to digest it, there's a bitter element in it, too. Because there is sin in our flesh, we have to judge ourselves. Judgment has to begin with us. And this is where most Christians fail. If I were to use an illustration, I'd say that to most Christians, the word of God is like chewing gum. It's just in the mouth. You just chew it and chew it and then spit it out. It never gets down to really being digested, because they never take the word of God seriously to judge their own life. But if we do what John did, that is, receive the word, take the book, and it's sweet as honey, but then we allow it to go into our stomach, digest it, and experience something of that bitterness, then we have a total experience of the word of God. And that is what qualifies us to be his witnesses to our generation. Now you must prophesy, he said, concerning many peoples and nations and tongues. Now I want you to contrast this with what we saw in verse 4 of chapter 10. There he heard seven peals of thunder, and he was about to write them, and he heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken, and do not write them. There are certain things which God speaks to us personally, they are meant for us. We're not meant to share them with others. Paul, for example, was taken up to the third heaven once, and for 14 years he never even told anyone he went there, and even then when he did speak about it, he said, I heard unspeakable things which it is not lawful for a man to speak about. We need to distinguish, what has God spoken for me personally? And John could hear clearly, this is for you, John, these seven thunders. That's for you personally, that's my telling you something personally. But this which you have received, verse 10 and 11, that is for you to prophesy to others. And so we see John beginning to prophesy, I think what we read from verse 11 onward, is the outcome of this eating of the book. Verse 1 of chapter 11, There was given me a measuring rod like a staff, and someone said, Rise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those who worship in it, and leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations, and they will tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months. Now one of the mysteries that the New Testament speaks of, we see in Romans 11.25, is the mystery of blindness coming upon Israel. Now in another study when we began chapter 7, we considered that. That at this present time, for 2000 years, there has been a blindness upon Israel. A blindness brought by the devil. And this is a mystery. But it is not going to be forever. This is going to be lifted, and we see the beginnings of that. We don't say it's lifted yet, it will be lifted only when Jesus returns. And the God-fearing Jews look upon him whom they have pierced. You see, God-fearing Jews are waiting for the Messiah, according to the promise in the Old Testament prophets. They think he hasn't come. But when he does come, and they see the wounds in his hands, and sides, and feet, they will discover that he had already come, and that their forefathers had killed him, and that he is now returning the second time, and then their eyes will be opened. The blindness will disappear. And what we see happening in Israel today is the preparation for that. The people in Israel who are in the leadership are not God-fearing people at all. They are just interested in the nation. But God is using all that for the preparation for his purpose. And we read here that there is going to be a temple in Jerusalem. I don't know whether we all know that the temple that Solomon built was built over the rock on which Abraham offered up Isaac. We read that in 2 Chronicles 3 verse 1. That's the place which God sanctified as the place for the temple to be built. And the amazing thing is that the Muslims teach that that is the very rock from which Muhammad was supposed to have ascended off to heaven. And so they built their temple there, they built a mosque there called the Dome of the Rock. The Mosque of the Rock. And they built it at a time when the temple of the Jews had been destroyed. Why? The temple of the Jews had been destroyed in 70 A.D. That is 40 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. God gave Israel 40 years to repent. Then the Romans came and just destroyed the temple. And then somewhere in the 7th or 8th century the Muslims built this mosque. And you know that that mosque is standing there even today. And that is why the Jews cannot build their temple. Otherwise they would have built that temple long ago. And we say why can't they build it in some other place? Because the word of God says in Jeremiah chapter 30. Jeremiah chapter 30 and verse 18. Thus says the Lord, Behold I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwelling places. And the city shall be rebuilt on its ruins. Now that has taken place. Jerusalem is being rebuilt on its ruins. But the next part, the palace or the temple shall stand on its rightful place. And the rightful place is at the moment being occupied by a Muslim mosque. And that teaches us that that part of Jerusalem anyway is still being trodden down by the Gentiles. That is the non-Jews. So the times of the Gentiles has not yet been fully fulfilled. Because Jesus said in Luke chapter 21 and verse 24. Luke 21 verse 24 he said that Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Now though most of Jerusalem is no longer trampled underfoot by the Gentiles in the sense that the Jews have got control of it. Yet the most sacred part of it as far as the Jews are concerned is still being trodden underfoot by the Muslims and the Jews cannot even go there. So that's the situation and it's an amazing wisdom of God where he has allowed this type of situation to arise. And so it says here measure, Revelation 11 verse 1, measure the temple of God. And the meaning here is as the margin says the inner sanctuary. That is the covered tabernacle itself. The most holy place. And the altar. And those who worship in there. Now in the Old Testament temple there were three parts. There was the outer court which was open. And then there was a covered tent called the tabernacle which had two parts. The holy place and the most holy place. And the most holy place was blocked off by a veil which was rent when Jesus died on the cross. And that was called, that was the inner sanctuary. And here the Lord says measure the inner sanctuary. And the outer court, verse 12, which is outside the temple, don't measure it for it's been given to the nations and they will tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months. And so we see that treading underfoot is going on even now. Now there's something I mentioned some time ago that in the Old Testament we have prophecies concerning Israel. And we can apply those prophecies spiritually to ourselves in the church. But they will still be literally fulfilled in Israel. We must bear this principle in mind. There are many Old Testament prophecies which are yet to be literally fulfilled in the nation of Israel. But we can apply them spiritually to our own lives even today. The same thing we see here in Revelation 11. Many of these things written here are literally to be fulfilled in the coming days. But right now as we read it we can apply them spiritually to ourselves and see what lesson we can learn from them. We read in Matthew 23 and verse 38 that Jesus went out of Jerusalem and he said, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, verse 37, how often I wanted to gather your children together, but you didn't want it. Verse 38, now your house, notice that, your house. He referred to the temple as your house. Now earlier on in Matthew 21, verse 13, just a few days earlier he had gone into the temple and called it my house. But notice the movement from my house to your house. The Lord wanted it to be his house, but they wouldn't receive his son. And so that withdrawal of Jesus from the temple is very significant. Because it says there in Matthew 24, verse 1, and Jesus came out from the temple and he never went there again. That was finished as far as God was concerned, that was finished. And yet there is a day coming in the future where we read that the temple of God will be built. And do you know who's going to sit in there? We read in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 4, that the Antichrist, the world ruler, is going to make a covenant with the Jews. And he will take his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as God. They wouldn't have Jesus Christ when he came. So he said it's your house and I'm leaving it. Your house is left desolate. And finally the Antichrist will come and set up his throne there and display himself as being God. Now in Revelation 11, verse 1 and 2, I want you to see the significance of this inner sanctuary in the outer court. That God is measuring not all those who claim to be Christians or believers, but those who have come into the inner sanctuary. This is the spiritual application of these verses for us. I said there is a literal application for Israel, but this is the spiritual application for us. That when the Lord is measuring, he doesn't measure the whole temple. He says, and the word is very strong as you see in the margin of Revelation 11, verse 2, it says, throw out the court which is outside the temple. Throw it out, just like Jesus said to the church in Laodicea, I will spit you out of my mouth. Because you're neither hot nor cold, you're lukewarm, I'll spit you out of my mouth. But he says, measure those who are in the inner sanctuary and who worship in it. In other words, those who have gone through the veil. Those who have judged themselves. And come into God's presence. Those are the ones who are measured. Those are the overcomers. Now there's a phrase here that is going to occur a number of times in the book of Revelation. It's a time period which I just want you to understand. In verse 2 it says, they will tread the holy city underfoot for 42 months. Now there is a time now when Israel has got Jerusalem back in their hands from the Arabs. But we read here in the word of God that there is a time coming in the future when Jerusalem will be taken over again from the Jews for a period of 42 months, immediately before the second coming of Christ. It will be taken over by the Antichrist, the world rulers. For the last three and a half years before Jesus Christ returns in glory. There's going to be this treading underfoot of the holy city again. This period of 42 months. It's also mentioned in verse 3, a similar period of 1260 days. That is if you count 30 days to a month. And in the scriptures whenever it speaks about a month, it's always 30 days. Whenever it speaks about a year, it's always 360 days. The prophetic year is 360 days, not like the solar year. Now this is important because I want to show you something very interesting from the Old Testament which we need to understand before we proceed in the book of Revelation concerning these 42 months and the 1260 days which is the same as 42 months. I want you to turn to Daniel chapter 9. There's a lot of similarity between Daniel and Revelation. And there are many things that God showed to Daniel which he gave in greater revelation to the Apostle John. Daniel chapter 9, this is the time when Daniel was praying about the restoration of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity, but it's prophecy in the Old Testament looks way beyond into the future too. And here are these amazing words. Daniel 9 verse 24 to 27. Seventy, and the margin says, units of seven have been decreed for your people. Now in the Hebrew language, there is a word which can be translated as weeks or sevens. And here, you have to see what it is in the context. Here it means seven, 77. That means 490. It doesn't tell us whether it is days, months or years, but we know that it is years, one day for a year. Seventy seven, or we can read it like this, 490 years Daniel, have been decreed for your people, the Jews, and your holy city, Jerusalem, to finish the transgression or to restrain transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness. You know, to make atonement for iniquity is Calvary's cross. To bring in everlasting righteousness is still in the future. So you see 2,000 years coming right there. To seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. That's the most holy place we just read in Revelation 11 verse 1. So, he says, you are to know this and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, sometime around 600 B.C. But, the Lord said, just a few, probably 586 or somewhere around that time B.C. But the Lord said that after 70 years Jerusalem would be rebuilt. And he said, from the date that the order goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, not the temple, but the city. And that date is given to us in the book of Nehemiah. Keep a finger here and turn to Nehemiah in the Old Testament. In the middle of the Old Testament, Nehemiah chapter 2. The order for the rebuilding of Jerusalem was given, Nehemiah 2 verse 1, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes. In the month Nisan, when Nehemiah asked the king for permission to go and rebuild, verse 5. He says, I want to go and rebuild the last part, the city of my father, Jerusalem. And then the king gave orders, we read, to the various people to help in the rebuilding of Jerusalem, verse 9. The king gave letters concerning that. Now from that day, that's the beginning where you begin to count these 490 years. Now turn back to Daniel 9.25. Now if you've got a King James version, with a margin which gives the dates on it, you'll find that in Nehemiah chapter 2 the date given is 446 BC. That's the date or the order going out for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. From that day, Daniel 9 verse 25, until Messiah the Prince. Now the one time in the New Testament where we read Messiah being called, Messiah that is Christ, being called the Prince or the King, is the time when he came riding on a donkey into Jerusalem, which you read in Matthew 21 and verse 5, where he was called, Behold your King comes to you sitting upon a colt. From the date that that King in Nehemiah's day gave the order to build Jerusalem, to the day that Jesus Christ would come in as a Prince, it says here, is going to be exactly 7 7 and 62 7. Put that together, how much is it? 69 7. 69 7 is just one 7 short of 490, which is 483 years. And it's very interesting to see that. That from the time of the decree being given, 446 BC, if you count 483 years, now remember we saw that a year is not 365 days, 360 days. I don't want to weigh you down with mathematics, but it's a very interesting thing. It's 483 into 360 is 173,880 days. I just mentioned that to show you, when you convert that into solar years, it comes exactly down to April 1930, sorry, April 30, 3080, when Jesus Christ came into Jerusalem. The exact same, that is, a period of 476 solar years. And it's amazing. So in the Old Testament, there is a prophecy that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem in Micah. There is also a prophecy about the exact time when Jesus would come. It's amazing. And if a student of prophecy had taken Daniel 9 verse 24 and 25 seriously, he could have been as clear as anything that this Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. It was written there. And why does it say 7 weeks and 62 weeks? The 7 7s and 62 7s, the first 49 years would be for the rebuilding of Jerusalem itself. And after that, the remaining period of 434 years, from the completion of that 49 year period of rebuilding, would be the time when Messiah would come. It says here in these 49 years, the last part of verse 25, the city will be built again with plaza and moat, even in times of distress, streets and moat. And then after that, after another 62 7s, 434 years, the Messiah will be cut off. That is, he'll be crucified. And that was the time when he was crucified. And have nothing down to the exact day. Have nothing means he will have no one, as the margin says. That means he will be completely forsaken by man and even by his father. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He'll have no one. And then what will happen? Then, after Messiah is crucified, that is 30 AD, the people of the prince who is to come in the future. Who is the prince who is to come in the future? The Antichrist. The people of that prince, not the prince himself, the prince will come many thousands of years later, but the people of that prince, the world's ruler of that time, which is the Roman Empire in Jesus' day, will come and will destroy the city and the temple. And that took place exactly like it says there in the year 70 AD, after a 40 year great period. And its end will come with a flood. Even to the end there will be war. Desolations are determined. And now listen. We started out with 490 years, but we have now taken care of only 483 years. There's still a 7 year period that's unaccounted for. And that's spoken of in the last verse. Now remember, this is decreed, verse 24, for whom? For the Jews. 483 years are over. This in-between period which we are in now of 2,000 years is not a period for the Jews. This is a period for all nations. So we can say that God doesn't consider this 2,000 year period. And moves on from that 483 year period, which finished with the death of Christ, and it's going to be picked up again at the end of time. There will be a 7 year period at the end of time to complete that 490 years for the Jews. And that's why we find that the restoration of the Jews to the land is the indication that we are near that final 7 year period before Jesus returns. And concerning the final 7 year period, we read in verse 27, the Antichrist will make a firm covenant with many Jews, referring to the Jews, for 7 years. That is, that final 7 year period, what's going to happen is the Antichrist, who is the world ruler, will present himself to the Jews as the Messiah. And the Jews will accept him. Jesus told the Jews once, he said, I've come in my father's name and you won't accept me. One day another will come in his own name and you will accept him. And they're going to do that, exactly like Jesus said. And we see here, then what's going to happen? In the middle of the week, he's going to break that covenant. What's the middle of the 7 year period? Three and a half years, or 42 months, or 1260 days. And that leaves another three and a half period at the end of this, to complete the 7 years. And it is this last 42 month period in which the Antichrist is going to reign. 1260 days, immediately before Jesus returns. That's the 42 months spoken of in Revelation chapter 11. That last time, after he had deceived the Jews, broken the covenant in the middle of the 7 years, and then the last 42 months. We read here, in verse 27, In the middle of the week he'll put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering, and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate. Remember, Jesus spoke about the abomination that makes desolate. You know what that is? That is the Antichrist sitting in the temple as God. That is the abomination that makes desolate, and even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate. That is, until the Antichrist himself is destroyed. Turn to Matthew 24. Matthew 24, and verse 15. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, that is the Antichrist sitting in the temple, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, that's Daniel 9.27, standing in the most holy place, then, let those who are in Judea, it's going to happen in Jerusalem, flee to the mountains, because the Antichrist has taken over them. That is going to be the signal of the beginning of the end. 42 months, and the end will come. So we see here, in Revelation chapter 11, coming back, we understand this a little better now, the holy city, the last part of verse 2, will be trodden underfoot for 42 months. That is for the last three and a half year period of this seven year period, which is there to complete that prophecy of Daniel. And then, the holy city will be trodden underfoot again. And then, at the end of that, the times of the Gentiles will be over, and Jesus will return and establish his kingdom on earth. And then, at that time, we read here in verse 3, God is going to have two witnesses on the earth. I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1260 days. It's very significant that the reign of the Antichrist is going to be exactly the same period as the public ministry of Jesus Christ, which is also for three and a half years. You see, the Antichrist is going to imitate Christ in every possible way. And his reign is going to be for three and a half years, just like Jesus' reign, Jesus' ministry, public ministry, was three and a half years. And these two witnesses are going to be there at that time in Jerusalem. They will prophesy for 1260 days, quote, in sackcloth. And sackcloth speaks of grief because of the ungodliness of the Jews. It speaks of simplicity. And humility. And it says in verse 4, these are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the whole earth. If you turn to the book of Zechariah, the Old Testament, chapter 4, we find there's a prophecy of this in Zechariah chapter 4 as well. In Zechariah chapter 4, we read that he saw a vision of a lampstand and two olive trees on either side, Zechariah 4, 11. He said, what are these two olive trees? And he was answered and told in verse 14, these are the two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth. Now that's what we see here in Revelation 11, 4, the two olive trees, the two lampstands, that is two witnesses whom the Lord is going to have on earth. I believe they're going to be two men who are going to stand before the Lord of the earth, two prophets in the last days who will prophesy, particularly in Jerusalem. And if anyone desires to harm them, notice the description, Revelation 11, 5, of these two prophets. Just by the way, I want you to know, I don't know whether any of you have seen the official symbol of the nation of Israel today. They've got an official symbol. You know what it is? It's a lampstand and fig leaves on either side. Very interesting. A lampstand in the middle and fig leaves on either side. That's just in passing. Things are moving in the direction that we see in the scriptures. And Revelation 11, 5, it says, if anyone desires to harm these two prophets, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. I understand that to mean that the fire would be the word of God, that through their spoken word, their enemies will be destroyed. Now, there are two people in the Old Testament whom we read of who destroyed their enemies like this, with the spoken word. One you read in Numbers, chapter 16, that is, Moses, when he denounced Korah and his friends. Numbers 16, 35, it says, fire came from the Lord and destroyed those enemies of Moses. And the other is in 2 Kings, chapter 1, verse 10, where when the king of Samaria, Ahaziah, sent soldiers to capture Elijah, Elijah said, if I am a man of God, let fire come down and consume all your fifty soldiers. And fire came down and consumed his enemies. So we find these two witnesses are going to prophesy in the spirit of Moses and Elijah. Fiery men, uncompromising, fiery prophets. If anyone decides to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. Now, how do we know that these people are not going to be Christian prophets? Because we read in Luke, chapter 9, something very interesting, that when Jesus came to Samaria, remember, Samaria was the place where Elijah called down fire to consume his enemies. Now, Jesus came to the same Samaria many years later, and the Samaritans did not receive him. We read in Luke, chapter 9, verse 52 and 53. They did not receive him. And James and John, the good Bible scholars, verse 54, they knew all about the Old Testament. They knew what Elijah did. They said, Lord, shall we call down fire from heaven to consume them in the margin as Elijah did? And the Lord said, you don't know, verse 55, what kind of spirit you are. For the Son of Man has not come to call fire from heaven. He has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. There is a difference between the New Covenant and the Old Covenant. We don't call down fire from heaven to consume them. No. We follow in the footsteps of Jesus who said, Father, forgive them, and of Stephen who said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. But that period of grace is over. It's the time of judgment that's come now, what we read of in Revelation 11. We saw that in our last study, that Jesus has opened the scroll fully. In the synagogue in Nazareth, he didn't open it fully. He said, the acceptable year of the Lord, that is these 2,000 years. That's also open now. And so, now these prophets are proclaiming judgment. And therefore, we see that the age of grace is virtually over. And fire proceeds out of their mouth, Revelation 11.5, and devours their enemies. And if anyone would desire to harm them in this manner, he must be killed. Another thing, verse 6, these have the power to shut up the sky in order that rain may not fall on the days of their prophesying. Who did that in the Old Testament? Elijah. And do you know for how long he did it? We read in James 5, verse 17, that when Elijah prayed, it did not rain on the earth for 42 months, for 1,260 days. It's exactly the same period. Here is someone who is going to prophesy and stand in the spirit of Moses and Elijah. And it says here, they have power, Revelation 11.6, over the waters to turn them into blood. Who did that in the Old Testament? Moses. And to smite the earth with every plague, who did that? Moses, as often as they desired. So, putting these two verses together, it seems pretty clear that these are two people who are going to be in the spirit of Moses and Elijah. In the book of Malachi, which is the last book of the Old Testament, we read in Malachi 4, and verse 5, verse 4 and 5, do you know who are the last two prophets mentioned in the Old Testament? Malachi 4, verses 4 and 5, Moses and Elijah. Remember the law of Moses, my servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horus. Behold, I am going to send you the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. So, we find confirmation in the last book of the Old Testament that before the great and terrible day of the Lord, Elijah is going to come, and remember the law of Moses. His law stands for him. And there is going to be some type of witness there. We don't know exactly what it's going to be, and I don't want to try and speculate what it will be, but there is going to be some type of witness that God is going to have of two men who prophesy in Jerusalem in the spirit of Moses and Elijah. I want you to notice something that Moses and Elijah both stood for in the Old Testament. Do you remember the time when Moses came down from the mountain and the whole nation of Israel had gone astray, worshiping idols? They were clapping and singing and dancing and also committing adultery, like a lot of people today clap and sing and dance and commit adultery. Just the same. Apostasy, drifting away from God, and Moses came down and he stood in the gate of the camp and you know what he said? Who is on the Lord's side, come over to me. That's the spirit of Moses. Elijah, we read, was living in a time when the entire nation went out to worship idols. One day he gathered the nation on the top of Mount Carmel and Moses said, how long are you going to sit on the fence? If the Lord is God, follow him. If Baal, the idol, is your God, follow him. You see, these are the two witnesses that are going to be there for those 42 months. Now the reason I mention that is because there's something of that that we need to see in relation to the last days of the church as well. Because I believe with all my heart that though we don't call down fire from heaven or shut the heavens or call down plagues on the earth, we are to stand in the spirit of Moses and Elijah in this sense in the church in these last days before Jesus returns to ask this question, who is on the Lord's side? Let him come out to me. That's very clear. Moses didn't go into the midst of those dead denominations to try and change them. He came out of them and said, you come out and stand with me if you're on the Lord's side. The same thing Elijah, he stood out alone from all those dead denominations and he said, who is your God? The word of God or the traditions of men? Don't sit on the fence between the word of God and the traditions of men. Decide which you're going to follow. In the last days. And we read that Elijah ministered under the reign of the most wicked king and queen that Israel ever had. That was a man called Ahab and there's one word written about Ahab in 1 Kings 21 verse 25. Have you heard of people who sell themselves to Satan in order to have power? There are people even in our day Well it says about Ahab in 1 Kings chapter 21 verse 25 that he sold himself to do evil. He sold himself to the devil and therefore he is a type of the Antichrist. And who then is Jezebel a type of? That's clear. The bride of the Antichrist that is Babylon. The false church. The harlot system he considered that in Revelation 2. You have a prophetess there called Jezebel. And Elijah in the Old Testament prophesied in that situation to God's people. And that's how it's going to be in the last days with the rise of the Antichrist and the rise of the false harlot church. There's going to be the ministry of Elijah in the church immediately before it's raptured by Jerusalem in the reign of the Antichrist. Moses also was a picture in the Old Testament. Pharaoh is a picture of the Antichrist and Moses stood there against Pharaoh. So we see a similarity between the ministries in the Old Testament and the ministries of these men in Revelation chapter 11. Now I want you to turn to Revelation 11 verse 7. It says here when these two prophets are coming the beast that comes out from the bottomless pit will make war with them and overcome them and kill them. Now the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit is the Antichrist. It's a man who's going to be possessed by Satan ruled by Satan the Antichrist. We read about him more in chapter 13. We'll come to him more in detail then. But just in passing let me mention that this is the Antichrist. But the thing I want you to notice here is that he cannot kill them until they have finished their testimony. God had ordained in verse 3 of Revelation 11 that these prophets must prophesy for 1260 days. And that became a little more clear to me why he didn't just say three and a half years. Three and a half years is a more general term. 1260 days is specific. Have you ever seen this wonderful verse in the Old Testament in Psalm 139? Psalm 139 and verse 16. It's a good verse for those who are afraid of death. Psalm 139 and verse 16. David says Lord your eyes have seen my unformed substance. That is verse 13 You weave me in my mother's womb. He's talking about the time when he was in his mother's womb being formed into a baby boy. Thou didst form my inward parts verse 13. Verse 15 My frame was not hidden from thee when I was made in secret. Verse 16 Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance in my mother's womb. And listen to this. In your book it was written down at that time when before I was born it was written down the exact number of days that were ordained for me on earth before I had started my first day on earth. That's what it says there. It's an amazing word that God has written down in his book the number of days for his children. That doesn't mean everybody will live out their full term. Some people will die before their time because they live for the world and live in sin. But those who live in the fear of God will live their full term. We read in Revelation 11 I will grant authority to my witnesses for 1260 days and the Antichrist can try and try and try and try he will not succeed in killing them until the number of days recorded for them in God's book is completed. It's a wonderful thing brothers and sisters to be a servant of God. You are immortal until your life's work is done. There is no profession on earth as great as that. And you don't have to be a full time worker. Paul was not a full time worker. He was in a secular job. Paul was a businessman. He used to make ten to earn his living. But he was an apostle and a prophet a servant of God in a secular job. And every one of us can have that privilege. It says here when they have finished their testimony the Antichrist makes war with them overcomes them and kills them. There's a very interesting two interesting verses concerning Jesus who also had a public ministry of 1260 days in John chapter 7 verse 30. Have you read these words? John chapter 7 verse 30 it says here that the enemies of Jesus hired by the Pharisees including the Pharisees were trying to seize Jesus. But no man laid his hand on him. Why? Because Jesus was clever. No. Only one reason. His hour had not yet come. The number of days recorded in the book had not yet run out. John chapter 8 verse 20 Jesus spoke these strong hard words in the treasury and yet no one seized him even though they wanted to. Only one reason his time had not yet come. Think of this brothers and sisters to live like this on the face of this earth to move fearlessly knowing that no one can touch you if God's time has not come. That's a promise for the wholehearted not for the compromising wishy-washy Babylonians. No sir. It's for the wholehearted who live before the face of God who are not interested in the honor or the approval of men. Tremendous. And then it can be written about you and me if we are like that. They couldn't do anything to him because his hour had not yet come. The devil tried to kill him with cancer. Couldn't do it. His hour hadn't come. Somebody else tried to finish him off. Couldn't do it. His hour hadn't come. And then one day when God's hour came for Jesus he said here I am. And when God's hour has come for these two prophets they are ready to go. And when God's hour comes for you and I and you and me I trust we don't want any doctor to prolong our life after that. We should be just as ready to go. Thank you Lord. I've finished my testimony. It says about David who wrote Psalm 139 there's a wonderful word about David in Acts 13 36 when he had finished serving his own generation by the will of God he slept. Oh that those words could be said about you and me that we finished serving our generation in the will of God we slept. Or perhaps the Lord will come and we're taken out. But I just say that to emphasize this fact that God wants even in the church prophets servants of God like that who are simple humble signified by these fellows were not dressed up in suits and ties they were in sackcloth I'm I want to get the message there in simplicity and humility living before God's face not seeking the honor of men speaking the truth fearlessly speaking the word of God and knowing that no one can touch them till their time has come and then when their time has come they die. Now we come back now those are just some spiritual lessons that we can learn from these prophets now we come back to the literal application there will be these two prophets in Israel in the last days who will prophesy for three and a half years 1260 days and then they will be killed by the antichrist and verse 8 it says they will not be buried they will be put to public shame their dead bodies will lie in the streets of the great city which is called Sodom and Egypt that's the spiritual name for Jerusalem because Jerusalem has become like Sodom spiritual harlotry spiritual adultery the earthly Jerusalem which is meant to be the place where God manifested himself to his earthly people the Jews has ended up as the spiritual Sodom and Egypt symbolizing spiritual adultery and harlotry and it is called the great city in verse 8 and later on in the book of revelation you read the great city is Babylon it's possible for something to have started out as some Jerusalem was a place once where God manifested himself but it ended up as Babylon there's a lesson there for us for much that starts out with God's anointing and power in Christendom but it ends up after some years in spiritual harlotry as something great in the eyes of men no longer holy the holy Jerusalem you read later on in Revelation 21 and 22 we'll come to that later but here we read the place where their Lord was crucified that identifies it Jerusalem has now become Sodom and Egypt anyway these dead bodies are going to lie in the streets of Jerusalem the two dead bodies of these two prophets and everybody's going to gloat over it you can see the wickedness of people in verse 9 and 10 those from the people and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days have you ever thought of that how are people in all nations of the world going to see these two dead bodies in the streets of Jerusalem has anybody got any ideas worldwide television that's the only way and through satellites otherwise it's not possible it says there people's tribes tongues and nations will look they won't hear about it they will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb and those who dwell on the earth these are the earth dwellers will rejoice over them and make merry imagine the delight they're getting out of seeing these people publicly humiliated in their death they're so thrilled it says they'll send gifts to one another imagine that delight man is basically a miser but if he's so so excited that he begins to give gifts you can imagine his joy this is the height of evil and God's going to allow it all to come forth the height of evil because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth and I want to tell you even today a really God-fearing prophet is a torment for worldly people and for worldly believers he's a real torment he's a real pain in the neck a real thorn in the flesh even today he they tormented those earth dwellers by constantly preaching against their love of earthly things and idolatry and not turning to God but we read here something further that after three days and a half the breath of life from God came into them there's going to be a resurrection right there in Jerusalem on the street these two bodies they stood on their feet God is going to raise them up right there on the street and great fear fell on those who were beholding them and they heard a loud voice from heaven saying come up here and they went up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies beheld them there's the resurrection and there's the rapture they are raised up in the twinkling of an eye they're chained and they're taken up into the presence of the Lord and it says their enemies saw them and that teaches us something that God is going to vindicate us holy at the resurrection not before that if we have been faithful to God and we've been humiliated on the earth in various ways people have abused us and said our message was hard and that we were tormenting them and they hated us and spoke evil of us and we've forgiven them we're born with them God will not vindicate us in our earthly life but at the resurrection the whole world will know that we were true faithful servants of God if you're willing to be patient for that there's a hope for us do we want to be accepted and vindicated now we will not be we're going to be vindicated at the resurrection even Jesus Christ has not been vindicated yet only when he comes we've got to wait for that also when Elijah was on earth and he was raptured up to heaven in a chariot of fire nobody saw him except Elijah but in that final resurrection we will be vindicated publicly and it says here in that hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell that's Jerusalem and seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake and the rest they still don't repent that's the amazing thing it's amazing that after all this they're only terrified but they don't repent and they gave glory to the God out of heaven out of fear but with no desire to change their lives the second woe is past behold the third woe is coming quickly and we read immediately thereafter the seventh angel sounded the trumpet verse fifteen and that relates to the establishment of the kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth these prophets have finished their ministry and with the resurrection and their rapture Jesus Christ descends from heaven and establishes his kingdom on earth verse fifteen there were voices in heaven which said the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign forever and ever this is the time when Jesus is going to set up his one thousand year reign on earth that kingdom which satan offered to Jesus that if you bow down to me I'll give you all these kingdoms and Jesus said no I don't want it from you went to the cross died went the hard way finally after two thousand years he's gonna get it not gonna get it from the devil he's gonna get it from his father we don't want anything from the devil we'd rather take it the hard way through the cross from the father that's why Jesus told Pilate in John chapter 18 verse 36 my kingdom is not of this world otherwise I would fight my servants would fight that's what we say today also our kingdom is not of this world we don't want anything from the devil we don't want the glory of this world the devil offers us to be compromised just a little bit we'll go the way of the cross