The Church Prophetic, Suffering and Vindicated

[0:00] Let's say that we had the opportunity to ask Jeremiah while he was in the cistern. Jeremiah! Yeah? Hey, why are you in the cistern?

[0:14] I'm here because I've been declaring God's message to a people under judgment so that they would be saved. Jeremiah! Yeah? Is it worth it?

[0:29] Yes. What are you willing to suffer for? Maybe if you've got a gluten allergy, you find yourself asking the question, if I eat this cake, I'm going to suffer for it.

[0:46] Is it worth it? For those of you who have to endure pain of physical training for an athletic contest, you suffer for the sake of winning, you suffer for the sake of maybe just even finishing, got to ask the question, is it worth it?

[1:06] Those serving in the armed forces, sitting on a post under the threat of enemy attack, you're risking your life for the good of your country, is it worth it?

[1:20] A woman who goes into labor and experiences a lot of pain in the delivery of childbirth, you suffer trauma to have a baby, oh, it's so worth it.

[1:39] Parents, you know what it's like to be sleep deprived, peace deprived, respect deprived as you raise your children. Is all that deprivation worth it?

[1:53] To see Christ's character form in your child, yes. What are you willing to suffer for?

[2:07] I think that there are many American Christians who have been surprised to find out that they weren't told something when they began to follow Jesus.

[2:19] And what was that? That in order for you to obey Jesus and all that He commanded you, it will require you to suffer for Him.

[2:34] And it's not fine print in your Bible. Jesus hasn't instructed His disciples, okay, bring people to Me, and then after two years, after they're settled, then show them the fine print that it gets really hard.

[2:49] Now, Jesus was very upfront in it. In Matthew 5, in the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says one of His beatitudes, one of the characteristics of a follower of Jesus is that they will suffer for Jesus, be persecuted for His name's sake, and they will be blessed by that.

[3:13] 2 Timothy 3.12, Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So, why I'm bringing this up is suffering as a result of following Jesus isn't fine print in your Bible.

[3:29] We, the American church, just tends to leave it out thinking that nobody in their right mind would become a Christian if they knew it may cost them dearly.

[3:39] Let me put it this way. Biblically speaking, it's not, it's suffering for Jesus is the exception, not the norm.

[3:56] No, I said that wrong. Suffering for Jesus is the norm, not the exception. In fact, if you're not catching flack for Jesus, it should raise this question, are you actually living for Jesus?

[4:16] What are you willing to suffer for? In Revelation chapter 11, verses 1 through 14, we're going to see Christ's prophetic church being a suffering church.

[4:35] A prophetic church is a suffering church. Just as our Lord Jesus has suffered, so will we. Now, since September of 2018, we've been getting a steady IV drip of the book of Revelation.

[4:53] And the purpose of this IV drip into the body of Christ is the IV drip of the book of Revelation is to strengthen a church that is being, facing difficulty in following Jesus and proclaiming the truth of who He is and what He's done.

[5:14] The book of Revelation is designed to drip courage into the hearts of suffering saints. It's 22 chapters of biblical courage for those saints encountering hardship.

[5:31] And the way that the book of Revelation gets into your veins is it gets into you graphically. It's vision after vision given to John who writes down and passes on to us.

[5:44] We are to imbibe this through our imaginations. And it strikes us. It's designed to encourage us. Two weeks ago, I walked us through the seven trumpet judgments in chapters 8 and 9 and the last half of chapter 11.

[6:01] And in between the sixth and seventh trumpet is what scholars call an interlude. And it's the second interlude that we've experienced because the first interlude was between the sixth and seventh seal.

[6:15] And the interlude between the sixth and seventh seal answered a question. Do you remember what the question was? On the day of God's wrath, all those who dwell on the earth who don't know, who aren't following Jesus, ask this question.

[6:29] Who is able to stand? And chapter 7 answers the question. The church, the blood bought of Christ, those sealed with the seal of the living God on their foreheads, they are the ones who stand on that day, safeguarded in the presence of God.

[6:49] The first interlude was about the church and so was the second interlude. The first interlude answers the question, who is this people? Who can stand?

[7:01] The second interlude, chapter 10 and the first half of 11, which we're looking at today, that answers the question, what is the church to do as judgment heats up on the earth?

[7:20] To be Christ's prophetic church means we will also be Christ's suffering church. Revelation 11, 1 through 14 prepares us for the increasing suffering to come.

[7:36] I don't think that we're in the sixth trumpet. Because there's not this worldwide persecution of Christians across the board. But I think we're on our way.

[7:50] This vision unfolds in four scenes. Scene 1, the church measured. Scene 2, the church prophetic. Scene 3, the church suffering. And scene 4, the church vindicated.

[8:03] Come up here. So in order to help you understand that Christ's prophetic church is Christ's suffering church, let's look at this first scene, the church measured.

[8:20] 11, chapter 11, verses 1 and 2. Now, I've got to set it up. In chapter 10, John has been given a scroll to eat by an angel in its classic symbolism of the calling of a prophet.

[8:31] In verse 11, he is required to proclaim the contents of that scroll which is God's plan for the fullness of time realized in Jesus. And he's told you must again prophesy that to all people.

[8:48] Chapter 11, verse 1, after being given the scroll to eat and the call to prophesy, he is given a measuring rod to measure something, verse 1, and not to measure something else.

[9:00] verse 2. And the backdrop of all this measuring business are two Old Testament passages, Ezekiel chapter 40 through the end of the book and Zechariah chapter 2.

[9:13] And in both those passages, God has an angel measure the temple and it's a picture of God dwelling with his people.

[9:25] We see the measurement of the temple in verse 1 that measure the temple of God, the altar and those who worship there, which is a really interesting way to talk about that.

[9:41] The temple of God represented God's presence among his people all throughout the Old Testament. God dwelling with his people.

[9:54] And by the time you get to the New Testament, God has a new dwelling place. It's not bricks and mortar. It is his people.

[10:07] And if you want to look at Ephesians 2, 19 through 20, take a look at that. It's a compelling picture of the church as God's temple indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

[10:17] But just to let you know, I'm just not importing this into the book of Revelation. Would you flip back to Revelation 3 to the church of Philadelphia?

[10:32] This was a faithful church. Chapter 3, verse 12. Jesus, the risen, reigning, and radiant one says this to this church.

[10:43] Verse 12. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. He's talking to a primarily Gentile church. I'll make him a pillar in the temple of my God.

[10:55] I will build him into my temple, my people. And then he goes on to say, I will write on him the name of my God in the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem. The Philadelphia church is being considered the temple of God, the city of God.

[11:13] God. And when John is told to measure the temple here, he's talking about measuring a people, those who worship God.

[11:32] So what's this measuring business all about? Well, let me ask you this. What effect does measuring have on you? Let's say you want to build a house, you've got this great idea for a house, and you're like, yeah, this is going to be really cool.

[11:45] And then one day, all of a sudden, the blueprints come in and you get to see the measurements of this house you're about to build. You know what happens right at that point? Things get real.

[11:57] You start seeing how big things is. You start understanding what's required. The building material. Measuring makes things real. And what John is to measure, the inner court of the temple, which is the sanctuary, the altar.

[12:13] Remember, the altar is where those saints who've been martyred, their blood is lying underneath that. And those who worship there, it's again this hint that we're talking more than bricks and mortar.

[12:27] He's to measure a people. Now, if you're wondering, well, maybe he's being told to measure the temple that's in Jerusalem. Well, the thing is, that was destroyed 25 years before this was penned in 70 A.D. by Rome.

[12:43] God's people are His very dwelling place now. The church is the place where God dwells and He knows who His people are.

[12:56] And so what this is a picture of is a picture of God knowing who is His own. It's a picture of security.

[13:10] What John is not to measure is the outer court of the temple. Now, don't make the mistake of thinking now the outer court is somehow not the church.

[13:22] It is. Because the outer court is considered part of the holy city. Do you see that in verse 2? which is the church.

[13:36] So why? What's being communicated here? If the inner court is a picture of security, God knows who His worshipers are. The measuring of the outer court which is going to be trampled by the nations of those who don't follow Jesus, it's a picture of suffering.

[14:02] The first measuring picture is of security. God knows us. He's with us. And the second is of being trampled.

[14:12] Of God's people suffering. The outer court of the temple is now depicted in verse 2 as still being part of the holy city and yet that holy city is not named.

[14:32] The holy city does get named later in the book of Revelation. Chapter 21, 1-2. The name is the new Jerusalem. God dwelling with His people finally and forever.

[14:47] The holy city that is being referenced here is God's people. And so right here in chapter 11, verses 1 and 2, we have this picture of God's people as a temple and a city secure with God because He's with us and yet at the same time we're going to be trampled by the nations.

[15:08] It is a simultaneous picture of being secure and suffering. So during the time of the sixth trumpet, God's people, the church, will be secure yet they will suffer.

[15:28] And it's true now. Did you notice that the suffering takes place for a designated time? It says, they will trample the holy city for 42 months.

[15:41] You're like, what's that all about? Well, it's interesting because those 42 months have a reference way back in the book of Daniel, chapter 7.

[15:53] But the same reference is made in the very next verse. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses and they will prophesy for 1,260 days.

[16:05] And you're thinking, wait, 42 months is not the same as 1,260 days. Well, actually, in antiquity, one month was 30 days, one year was 360 days.

[16:22] So if you multiply 42 times 30, do you know what number you get? 1260. They're different numbers, but they're talking about the same amount of time.

[16:33] Here's why that's significant because there's another number. If you flip over to chapter 12, verse 14, you read this. But the woman was given to the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness to the place where she is to be nourished for a time and times and a half time.

[16:55] Now, now it's an explicit reference to Daniel. If you flip back to Daniel, Daniel chapter 7, right after Ezekiel, verse 25, Daniel has just been given a vision.

[17:11] It's being interpreted by an angel. And this angel said, verse 25, he shall speak words against the most high. He's speaking about the beast that raises, comes up from the earth.

[17:23] He shall speak words against the most high and he shall wear out the saints of the most high and shall think to change the times and the law and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and a half time.

[17:38] Classically understood as three and a half years. It's representative of a set amount of time. Do you know what happens when you divide 42 months by 12 months?

[17:55] You get three and a half years. Do you know what happens when you divide 1260, divide by 360 days? You get three and a half years. These are all different figures communicating the same amount of time.

[18:11] So now the question becomes, well, what does three and a half have? What's that all about? Well, three and a half is half of what? Seven.

[18:21] And what do we know about the number seven? It's fullness, completion. And so what is being communicated in this number is God has a plan.

[18:33] Daniel 7. And for a short amount of time, God's people will suffer. It's a temporary amount of time.

[18:47] It's not going to be forever. John is saying that the trampling of the church for 42 months is the realization of Daniel 7.25.

[19:03] Now what's also interesting is if you look at back in Revelation 13.5, you're going to read about the beast. We're going to see him in a little bit.

[19:16] And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words and it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months, three and a half years. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling.

[19:27] That is, those who dwell in heaven. Did you see that? Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. The beast in chapter 13 is waging war on God's people, his dwelling place.

[19:42] And what we're seeing in chapter 11 a little bit is the same beast is making the same warfare on two witnesses, the church. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

[19:53] Why? Why? If this temple, this city that we're reading about in Revelation 11, 1 and 2, if this is the church, why are they suffering?

[20:13] Why are they being trampled? Of course, it's fulfillment of Daniel 7, but it's more than that. The church is prophetic.

[20:27] And we see that explanation in the next few verses in chapter 11, verses 3 through 6. So, we've gone from the church measured now to the church prophetic.

[20:38] Who the church is to now what the church does. Now, I'm guessing that what I'm about to say, many of you have not heard before because you've been brought up in churches that have taught that the two witnesses are two literal people, Moses and Elijah, who have come back from the dead to prophesy.

[21:00] Well, that's a possible way to explain this passage, but I don't think it's accurate. And I've got a number of reasons why. I'm going to give you two right now. I believe that the two witnesses are a symbolic description of the church, the blood-bought people of God living at this point in history called to be prophetic.

[21:22] The first reason is contextual. And remember what we were just talking about in chapter 11, 1 and 2, we were just talking about the temple and the holy city as being the church.

[21:34] And so, when John moves from talking about the holy city, the temple, the church, into verse 3, and now two witnesses, I'm going to argue he hasn't changed the subject matter.

[21:47] He's still talking about the church. He has just switched the symbolism. And now we've got to ask the question, why the symbolism of two witnesses?

[22:00] Now, typically, we will think, okay, tell me who these two witnesses are. Are they Elijah and Moses? Who are these two witnesses? Don't think in terms of individuals.

[22:12] Think in terms of concept, the two witness concept. Do you know anything from your Bible that talks about the importance of having two witnesses?

[22:25] Deuteronomy 19.15, only on the evidence of two witnesses shall a charge be established. What's being pictured here is that the church is being symbolically described as two witnesses establishing a legal truth claim, prophesying of the contents of the scroll.

[22:50] God's plan for the fullness of time realized in Jesus. It's a description of the church's function during the time immediately preceding final judgment, trumpet seven.

[23:06] It's true of us now as well. The interlude between seal six and seal seven, seal six and seal seven answers the question who can stand?

[23:18] And what we're seeing here is the interlude between the six and seven trumpet is addressing what is the church to do? We're to witness, bear testimony as two witnesses to the truth of the gospel.

[23:37] Now, I want you to notice something.

[23:53] In verse two, we're told that that the holy city is going to be trampled for 42 months and then in verse three, the two witnesses are to prophesy for 1260 days.

[24:08] It's the same amount of time, so you know what that means. While we suffer, we prophesy. This interlude is about the church and what we must be doing.

[24:27] They're not two literal people, Moses and Elijah, having come back. It's the church bearing witness, prophesying of the judgment to come with all of the authority of Moses and Elijah.

[24:44] That's why they're there. Verse three, these two witnesses are given authority. The church is given authority to pronounce judgment on all those unwilling to repent of their idolatry.

[24:56] Just like Elijah five in the first part of six, we've been given authority to call down fire. We've been given authority to shut up the heavens. We've been given Moses-like authority calling down plagues.

[25:10] These are things that we've already seen in the seals and the trumpets gang. This is not a new authority that's being given to us. This is an authority that was given to the church way back when Jesus walked the earth.

[25:25] Matthew 16, speaking to Simon Peter, he says, here are the keys to the kingdom, baby. What you locks locked, what you opens opened up.

[25:38] That's the kind of authority that we're talking about. Now, it seems odd to us today because we typically do not think of ourselves as having been given this kind of authority.

[25:53] But we've been given it. We are prophesying a judgment and what you're going to see in the verses to come, particularly in verse 10, that content of what we proclaim, it torments people who don't have ears to hear.

[26:18] In verse 3, you notice that the church is wearing sackcloth, these two witnesses, at the end.

[26:30] It reflects the message of repentance that we declare. for a relatively short period of time, the church is going to suffer intense suffering, the trampling.

[26:48] But the church is secure amidst its suffering, and while we suffer, we must prophesy repentance in the face of coming judgment to those who dwell on the earth.

[27:02] Now, let me give you a definition, a working definition of to prophesy. To prophesy is to proclaim God's message of judgment to a disobedient people so that they would repent and be saved from that judgment.

[27:21] And what I want you to know right up the front is prophesying is by nature confrontational. do you think of the gospel as confrontational?

[27:39] Do you think of preaching the gospel as prophesying judgment? It is. When you tell someone that they need Jesus in order to be rescued from God's wrath for their sin, you are declaring a message of judgment.

[28:01] When we tell somebody that certain attitudes and actions are actually acts of rebellion against a holy God that provoke his wrath, we're saying that God has judged them and that they will face his wrath and they need to be rescued from that.

[28:19] That's why they need Jesus. the gospel is God's message of salvation and it is confrontational.

[28:31] It requires us to pronounce judgment on sinners so that they can understand their great need for an even greater savior who bore God's wrath on the cross.

[28:47] So in our prophetic calling as a church, Christ the King, you've got to hear me out now. When we're given opportunities to prophesy, whether it's you're a prophetic parent, or you're given an opportunity to speak the gospel to someone at your workplace or at the gym or somewhere where you roam, we cannot de-sin the gospel.

[29:17] We cannot out of love erase God's judgment from our prophetic message. The gospel requires us to speak about God.

[29:32] It requires us to speak about sin. It requires us to speak about his coming judgment so that we can point to Jesus as a real savior. Savior. This week I sat down with someone I care for a lot and I had to say some hard things and I offended this person greatly.

[29:51] Oh, but it was the most loving thing I could do. because I know it's coming.

[30:06] Our prophetic gospel message about God, sin, judgment, and Jesus, it's offensive. People don't want to hear it and they don't want to hear it because according to John 1, they love the darkness more than the light.

[30:23] and just to deliver you from any self-righteousness, it's only because of God's grace that he allowed you to understand the judgment that you were under so you could repent.

[30:40] And so we prophesy not as jerks who are angry. We prophesy as those who have been delivered, who have been rescued, who understand we too were under judgment.

[31:01] So did you notice that it's the same amount of time that the church is trampled, it's the same amount of time the church is prophesying? Our suffering gives us opportunity to preach.

[31:18] I didn't even mention anything about verse 4. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. It's back to Zechariah 4. You have Zerubbabel and Joshua portrayed as these two olive trees and there's this lampstand in Zechariah 4.

[31:36] It's two in John or in Revelation here. In Zechariah 4 there are these little tubes coming from the olive trees and the olive trees are perpetually pumping olive oil into this bowl of the lampstand continually lighting it up before God.

[31:55] That's us. Lit up by God for God to a people in darkness. The prophetic church is a suffering church to which we turn now.

[32:12] In chapter 11 verses 7 through 10 we see a picture of the church suffering. What do you think happens when a church filled by the Spirit of God is boldly and lovingly prophetically calling sinners to repent to be rescued from the judgment to come?

[32:35] What do you think happens when we preach sin judgment in the need for Jesus in the need to repent? Some will repent. The rest will resent. In verse 7 the church is pictured as having finished their testimony and when they have finished their testimony the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them.

[33:00] So when you read the church these two witnesses finishing their testimony insert Matthew 24 14 and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony.

[33:13] Witnesses do that. as a testimony to the nations and then the end will come. When the church has faithfully completed the great commission we've been given to go make disciples the beast rises from the bottomless pit and the beast what we read in verse 7 it's brutal.

[33:38] He will make war on the two witnesses on the church and he will conquer them the two witnesses the church and he will kill them the church and it doesn't end there and their dead bodies literally in the Greek it's actually singular and their dead body will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom in Egypt where their lord was crucified.

[34:07] not only will he make war and conquer and kill he will humiliate the church. In the Middle East when your body is not buried it is humiliating.

[34:28] The beast is introduced by name for the first time in Revelation and we're going to learn more about him in Revelation 13 but suffice it to say here's what you need to know he's the second person of the anti-trinity the first person of the anti-trinity is the dragon the second person of the anti-trinity is the beast and the third person of the anti-trinity the false prophet.

[34:51] The beast is the antichrist and he is of whom Daniel was speaking in Daniel chapter 7. So here in Revelation 11 we see the beast rise from his hell hole to eradicate the church and it appears as though he has been successful but we know that the church can never be destroyed because Jesus has said and the gates of hell will not prevail against her.

[35:28] This is depicting a time following the completion of the church's mission. the church appears to be defeated after a tribulation so fierce it appears as though the church is no more.

[35:45] Did you notice where the bodies are lying in verse 8? In the street of the great city. Notice the symbolic names of this great city.

[35:57] Sodom known known for its wickedness and judgment. Egypt known for the captivity of God's people and judgment. It's also one more description of the great city where the Lord was crucified there being the church.

[36:14] It's not stated but it's referencing to Jerusalem and I find it interesting that Jerusalem is being associated with Sodom and Egypt and connected to this great city.

[36:26] What's up with that? The last city reference we saw in chapter 11 was in verse 2.

[36:38] The holy city. The new Jerusalem. The people of God. The great city that we're reading about here in verse 8.

[36:51] It's not Jerusalem. It's not Sodom. It's not Egypt. It goes by another name in the book of Revelation. A prostitute.

[37:04] The anti-bride. Babylon. That's the great city. Chapter 17 and 18. Every time that phrase the great city is referenced in the book of Revelation it always refers to Babylon.

[37:22] Babylon. A people who do not belong to the Lamb but bear the mark of the beast. The world. This is not an actual city.

[37:34] This great city is all unrepentant mankind in opposition to the Lamb and they see the church humiliated and it looks like the church is done.

[37:49] The holy city looks like it's gotten trampled by the great city. It's a tale of two cities. And this happens for a very short time.

[38:02] Three and a half days. Verse 9. Verse 11. When you hear three and a half days, there should be another three days that starts ringing in your head.

[38:20] So for a very short time, it looks like the church appears eradicated and humiliated. And then in verse 10, what you see is the unrepentant mankind gloating.

[38:38] it's more than just gazing and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents. Exchange presents?

[38:50] I mean, it looks like the world has declared a worldwide holiday of rejoicing, making merry, and exchanging gift cards because, ding, dong, the church is dead.

[39:03] Why the celebrating? Why are people exchanging gift cards to go to Target and throw the church's dead parties?

[39:18] Look at verse 10. The word because, right in the middle. Because the two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. We've seen that word torment before.

[39:32] chapter 9, used three times to describe the torment the demonic locust plague has on the unrepentant men and women, and there we defined it as it should be, a mental anguish.

[39:52] They're rejoicing because they think the church has finally and forever been silenced. Hooray!

[40:03] The church is no longer prophesying about sin, judgment, and Jesus. Phew! Finally! Yay! Come on over for our church is dead party.

[40:16] Bring the snacks. Finally! The crazy witnesses have been silenced and now we can have some peace of mind. Finally! Finally! My friends, at this point in history, the church prophetic has been suffering, but prophesying, tormenting the unrepented mankind, and they suffer for it.

[40:47] I hope you see this, that it's because the church's prophetic presence, witnessing to sin judgment in Jesus, that leads the church into great suffering.

[41:06] The good news which we prophesy torments those who do not have ears to hear, and they can't take it.

[41:16] what will you suffer for? So today, when we suffer, because we're called narrow-minded bigots, uneducated backwater people because we believe a judgment's to come, this is God's word.

[41:41] This is the scroll. we have suffering in our future, but it doesn't end there.

[41:55] There's more. The church vindicated, verses 11 through 14. 11, after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them, the two witnesses, the church, and they stood up on their feet, standing on their feet.

[42:13] who can stand? And great fear fell on those who saw them. Three and a half days after humiliation, three and a half days of quote-unquote being dead, but not in a grave, God raised the church from apparent death, and they stand on their feet.

[42:36] The rejoicing and merry-making of the three and a half day, the church's dead party of the world stops, and as the church rises, fear falls on those who have been rejoicing over the church's apparent demise, vindication.

[42:55] The resurrection of God's people is the judgment on those who remain. Verse 12, we see that the unrepentant, it's them who hear the voice of the Lamb called to His people, come up here.

[43:14] Not only they're raised from the dead, they're called up. Come up here. And immediately the church is taken up into a cloud in heaven.

[43:27] And this whole scene started in 10-1 with an angel coming down in a cloud from heaven. The picture is that the only ones left on earth are the enemies of God's people, and they're left to face the seventh and final trumpet, which ushers in the seven bowl wrath.

[44:01] Now my hunch is that this calling up of the church is what we call the rapture of the church. 1 Thessalonians 4.16, for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven and with a cry of command, come up here, with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of a trumpet of God, seven trumpets, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

[44:28] The church's final prophetic word of judgment will be the resurrection and rapturous ascension up to heaven. When Jesus says, come up here, I'm clearing out my own from this planet.

[44:44] And in verse 13, at that very hour, there's a great earthquake. When they get called up, there's a great earthquake. And in Revelation, earthquakes mark God's mighty axe.

[44:56] One tenth of the great city falls, seven thousand were killed. Remember, this is still trumpet six, partial judgments. Those remaining are terrified.

[45:10] And what's interesting is they give glory to the God of heaven. What's that all about? Well, this is not a glorifying God born of repentance and faith, marked by fullness of thanksgiving and joy.

[45:24] This is a terrified realization that what the church has been proclaiming is actually true. The unrepentant acknowledge God's glory too late, but they acknowledge it.

[45:43] It's kind of like Philippians 2, 10, and 11. Every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

[45:55] There's coming a time where every tongue confesses him. Some saved, others to torment. repent. If you're not a Christian, if you have yet to heed the prophetic call that you're sinful, God's judgment is over you, and that your only rescue from the wrath to come is Jesus, you need to repent.

[46:23] If that's you, it's not too late. Verse 13 isn't here yet. It doesn't matter how old you are.

[46:35] It doesn't matter how much you've sinned. It doesn't matter how long you've been ignoring Jesus. Today is not that day, Revelation 11.13. Today is the day of your salvation.

[46:52] Beyond 11.13, there's no other opportunity for the people on earth to repent. so if you know that you have yet to respond to Jesus, don't delay.

[47:08] I'd love to talk to you about it after the service. What we see happening in Revelation 11 here is the church very much depicts her master.

[47:21] The church suffers like Jesus, the church dies like Jesus, the church is dead for a period of time like Jesus, the church is raised up from the dead like Jesus and ascends in a cloud to heaven like Jesus.

[47:35] Our prophetic witness, our suffering are reflected of the Savior we love and serve. It's a sober word, but this passage ends with vindication.

[47:52] Come up here. it's a promise. What are you willing to suffer for? Let's pray. God in heaven, help us to be faithful to you now, that we would be faithful to what you call us to speak, not sheepishly, not leaving things out, but that we would love people with the entirety of the gospel, speaking of you, speaking of sin, of justice, judgment to come, and the need to repent.

[48:34] It's the same, same old story. God, would you fill us with your spirit that we may be prophetically present and endure to the end.

[48:49] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.