[0:00] Good morning. Welcome to the service this morning as we again have the privilege of worshiping together. God is faithful and I think of Jeremiah the prophet having a lifetime of prophecy to Israel. Repent. Repent. Turn back to God and if not the Babylonians will come and take you captive.
[0:54] And nearing the end of his life the Babylonians have come three times. The city is destroyed. The temple is demolished. And in the book of Lamentations Jeremiah writes, Great is thy faithfulness.
[1:17] Bittersweet, we would say. Jeremiah saw all of God's promises come true and yet he mourned for his people.
[1:30] Can we this morning say God is faithful? Let's say it together. God is faithful.
[1:46] And as we believe that from our hearts, it provides the path of life for us as we focus on our creator.
[1:59] We're going to continue in Revelations and thank you Corny for reading that for us.
[2:12] Yesterday, last night, many of you will know, the country of Iran fired drones, missiles, rockets, and cruise missiles at Israel.
[2:36] Hundreds of them. God is faithful. God is faithful. And it's a situation that is, to me, so overwhelming.
[2:56] If Canada received one missile, we'd go down. Or that spot would go down. Ninety-nine percent of all the artillery that came was shot down before, or most of it before, it hit the boundaries of Israel.
[3:17] Is God in control? Amen.
[3:29] He has showed himself strong again. Never, ever before has a country in all of world history faced such a barrage of missiles and, ever, ever, and they came through it untouched.
[3:50] Now, my prayer would be, Israel, give God the glory. Give God the glory. I'm not so sure that they are, as they are very confident in their military might.
[4:07] And it is there. And God has given them the ability to come up with this might. And yet, they need to also give God the glory, as God has revealed himself not only to Israel, but to the entire world, as we have seen this.
[4:28] This morning, in Sunday school, we're in the book of Zechariah. And I thought I would read two verses in Zechariah 2.
[4:47] Zechariah 2, verses 8 and 9. Zechariah 2, verses 9 and 10.
[5:19] Zechariah 2, verses 9 and 10. Speaking of Israel as the apple of God's eye. Meaning that they have a special place in God's economy as a covenant nation.
[5:37] And the world needs to learn from this. As those that go against Israel, God will punish.
[5:50] It's a little bit of background going into the message this morning. But it's applicable to the study that we're doing. So last week, we looked at the trumpet judgments.
[6:05] The first six trumpets were blown. And the outfall of that, we went over that. And now chapter 10.
[6:17] We have what we call a second interlude. Or interruption in the progression of things. And chapters 10, 11, and 12 all kind of fit into that.
[6:33] And so we're going to break off from the series of judgments. And see what God reveals to John here in chapter 10.
[6:48] I've titled the message, The Mystery of God Further Revealed. The Mystery of God Further Revealed. And we'll start in chapter 10 and probably end up in 11.
[7:03] We'll see how far we get through this. I saw another mighty angel. So John is seeing. Coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was on his head.
[7:16] His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. He had a little book open in his hand, and he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land.
[7:30] Now this picture of a mighty angel coming down from heaven to the earth, planting one foot in the sea or in the ocean, and one on dry land, it's a picture of a very mighty angel.
[7:48] And the description of him is such that we would almost be tempted to ascribe this to Christ, clothed with a cloud, a rainbow on his head, his face like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.
[8:11] And yet we know that it's a mighty angel. So just like in chapter 5, there also John saw a mighty angel. And he says, I see another one now.
[8:24] A mighty angel come down. And so we know it is not Christ, but it's rather, it is an angel.
[8:35] If we skip ahead to verse 6, or verse 5 and 6, This angel swears by God in heaven, by the Creator.
[9:09] And so it's a further evidence that it's an angel, it's not God here coming down as an angel. He has a little book, and he cries out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars, and when he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices.
[9:37] So we've just come through the blowing of the trumpets, and now John hears seven thunders uttering.
[9:50] Now, what is the depth of that? It's obviously, when they thunder, John says, I was about to write.
[10:02] So to John, these utterances as thunder, he understood. It was clear to him. And he wants to write this down.
[10:15] And then, I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered. Do not write them.
[10:29] Now, does that leave us wondering? It does. Was this another seven plagues? Or evidence of God's wrath?
[10:43] We are not told. And John would like to tell us, and God says, No. Seal it up. It's not for you to know.
[10:58] Or not for you to relay to the church. And perhaps, perhaps it was a message uttered by the seven thunders that we could not bear.
[11:13] We don't know for certainty. But one thing I do know, that God is in control. He knows.
[11:26] And he wants us to let go. To trust him. And as I, as I worked through this, I was reminded for myself, for myself, that, that we, we like to control things.
[11:47] We like to have things figured out. And, you know, we're studying the book of Revelations so that our understanding increases. But never, on this side of glory, will we understand all things.
[12:03] And we need to be good with that. we need to trust God. That does not mean that we don't strive to increase our understanding.
[12:17] But there are things that belong to God. And he has chosen what to reveal and what not. And as, as his people, we need to learn to let go.
[12:34] And sometimes it makes us uncomfortable. Because we like to control. Because if we can control, then there's nothing new or unknown.
[12:50] And my comfort zone isn't stretched. And so, this spoke to me in that manner anyway, as John saw this, of the seven thunders uttering.
[13:03] And then, after that, as, the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land, so the mighty angel, swearing by him who lives in heaven, and that there should be delay no longer.
[13:21] And what is that delay? But in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, the trumpet, and we only went through the first six in chapters eight and nine last time, but in the days of the seventh trumpet, when that angel sounds, the mystery of God would be finished.
[13:44] Complete. and as he declared to his servants, the prophets. So, what is the mystery of God?
[14:00] God's program to bring the earth to an end as it's today with judgment, that mystery will be finished, it will be fully open.
[14:17] His judgment program will be complete. The coming kingdom will arrive. That's, that's what he is saying here. And, and the prophets have all spoken in that direction.
[14:32] This is coming, this is coming, this is coming. And now, in the days of the sounding of this angel, it will come to completion. The end.
[14:44] The end, and yet, the beginning of eternity as, as Christ will come back. And, so, that is, the mystery would then be finished as declared by his servants, the prophets.
[15:02] Verse eight, then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, go, take the little book which is in the hand of the angel, of that mighty angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.
[15:17] And so I went to the angel and said to him, give me the little book. And he said to me, take and eat it. Take and eat it.
[15:28] And he said to me, take and eat it and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be sweet as honey in your mouth. Then I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.
[15:46] But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. We have this other places in scripture. Jeremiah is told to eat of God's word, to consume it, and it would make, it would be bittersweet as well.
[16:07] And I think Ezekiel as well receives that. And here John is told to eat this. It will be sweet in your mouth and yet bitter in your stomach.
[16:19] and the word of God is sweet as it's the word of promise of God's grace, of his love, of the gospel of the kingdom that we can find peace in him.
[16:39] So it's sweet as we have the word of God, but it's bitter than it speaks of persecution and judgment to those that don't accept the word.
[16:54] And so now the apostle John is asked to inhale this or to eat this, not necessarily in a literal sense, but to consume the word and it would cause a churning in his stomach to realize that the word of God, what it will do to the people.
[17:15] So it's sweet that it draws to the Lord, but it's bitter in that God's judgment program must come for those that rebel.
[17:28] And that made John bitter or in his stomach. And verse 11, and he said to me, you must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.
[17:45] And John, you are going to continue to spread the word. Here he is an old man, we believe in his 90s, he's on the island of Patmos receiving this revelation from God and he is told, you will again speak forth the word of God.
[18:05] and so many believe he got off that island and was able to do that yet. And scripture does not reveal but other historic writings do that John was released.
[18:22] So this is part of this second interlusion. Let's continue on in chapter 11. Then I was given a reed, that's again to John, like a measuring rod and the angel stood saying, rise and measure the temple of God, the altar and those who worship there.
[18:47] But leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles and they will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months.
[18:59] Okay, so now John is given a reed, a measuring rod, and the angel tells him, go and measure the temple and the altar, but not the outer court.
[19:16] And then following, and those that worship there, but leave out the outer court, do not measure it, for it's been given over to the Gentiles or the ungodly.
[19:29] And they will overtread it. Now, what is the purpose of this? The Gentiles for the forty-two months, which is three and a half years, will overrun the city of Jerusalem during the tribulation period.
[19:52] They will overrun. And very likely it's going to be the second half of the tribulation period in mind here, that the Gentiles will consume that city.
[20:06] Yesterday, we witnessed God defending Israel. There is a day coming, and by that we know that the end is not yet here.
[20:20] There is a day coming when Israel will be forsaken, and they will be surrounded, and overrun. That day is coming, and where Israel's military might will not suffice, it will not be enough, and they will realize we are at our end.
[20:48] And so here, the Gentiles will overrun the city. why measure the temple? Well, first of all, that it tells us that a temple will again be established during this time period.
[21:11] And today, there is the mosque there, and has been there for a long time, and in fact, yesterday, interesting, there was numerous missiles aimed at the Arabs' mosque, and Israel blew them up above the mosque.
[21:33] Iran would have destroyed their place of worship, or of the Arabs, of the Muslim, and Israel blew them up.
[21:44] You know, I thought to myself, that's a natural way to clean off the temple mount so we can build. I don't have the full picture, but God does, and Israel stopped it.
[22:03] So, it's evidence that the temple will be there, and the fact there has not been a temple there since the year 70.
[22:21] So, however many years that is, close to 2000. They have been without a temple, and again, they will be worshiping in a temple. The scriptures allude to this more often.
[22:37] In Daniel chapter 9, we read that the Antichrist will put an end to sacrifice, suggesting that there will be a temple there, and Matthew 24 very clearly speaks of that.
[22:55] In fact, let's turn there, Matthew 24, 15. 15. 15. 15. 15. 15. 15. 15. 15. 15. 15. 15.
[23:06] 15. 15. 15. 15. 15. 15. 16. 17. 16.
[23:17] 16. 20. 16. 16. 15. 16. 17. 15. 16. 15. 16. 18. 20. spent 16.
[23:27] 20. 16. Jesus.이시 20.
[23:43] 21. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 tells us of the Antichrist setting himself up as God in the temple as well.
[23:56] And so we have numerous references. There will be a temple rebuilt. Now it's interesting that today you can give to the temple foundation in Israel for the rebuilding of the temple.
[24:11] You can contribute to that fund. In fact, they have so much of it in place already, the materials, it's ready to go up in a hurry.
[24:25] Yet the timing is not right. And Amir Sufati, he warns, don't give to this temple project.
[24:41] It's a project that will be used by the Antichrist to show himself to be God. And so he warns against supporting this temple.
[24:53] And so it's going to be the third fixed temple here on earth. The first one being Solomon's. And the second one with Zerubbabel rebuilding.
[25:07] King Herod later enhancing it. And it being destroyed. And now this will be the third one. And that too will be short-lived. And then Christ will have a temple in the millennium.
[25:19] That will be the fourth one. And so we know that there will be a temple here. So John is said to measure it. And yet we're not given the results of his measurements.
[25:33] It's not told what he measured or how far he got. But rather it signifies that God's holiness will still be there.
[25:47] As he's to measure the holy of holies there. And so even in this dark time, God's holiness. You know, today thinking of temples, in the church age, in this kingdom age, with Christ as our king in heaven, we individually and collectively are the temple of God.
[26:18] Amen? Scripture, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, tell us that very clearly, that you are the temple of God.
[26:32] that the Holy Spirit resides in every believer. And therefore, we ought to glorify God in our bodies with our lives.
[26:45] For we are the temple. And so in this period of kingdom where Christ is reigning from on high, the temple is within us.
[26:59] But that will change, and there will be a physical one again. And it's yet future. So we have that.
[27:12] In the first two verses, as John recognizes that this holy city will be undertrod by the Gentiles for 42 months, three and a half years.
[27:24] I would like to go on through verse 14. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth.
[27:45] These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. So now we're introduced into a new concept.
[27:59] God is going to send two witnesses to earth, and they will prophesy 1,260 days, which is the same as 42 months, or three and a half years, or times in time, and half a time.
[28:19] The different expressions of Scripture to refer to this time period. Two witnesses coming down, prophesying for three and a half years.
[28:32] Clothed in sackcloth, which is a symbol of mourning, or of, yeah, of repentance. So their message will be of repentance. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.
[28:51] Now what's a lampstand in Scripture? We started that in chapter 1. In chapter 2, what's the reference of a lampstand referring to?
[29:06] We have the seven lampstands in chapter 1, right? We have to start all over again.
[29:22] Go back to chapter 1. So a lampstand is God's witness here on earth, and in chapter 1, it referred to the seven churches as being God's witness.
[29:33] And here, these two people, and I interpret this as literal, they will come down being God's witnesses or lampstands to the entire earth.
[29:49] And the two olive trees, now, in Scripture, olive oil is referred to as symbolic of the Holy Spirit.
[30:03] And olive oil, of course, was used in the menorah or the lampstand in the temple, in the sacrificial system, in the tabernacle.
[30:15] And so, olive oil, a reference to the coming Holy Spirit. These two lampstands, these two men that come down will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
[30:29] God's Spirit here on earth prophesying. We have a similar picture also in Zechariah, chapter 4.
[30:40] And I won't turn there for time's sake, but there too, a lampstand and olive trees are mentioned as Zerubbabel was a witness there.
[30:52] Okay, so these are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.
[31:05] And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner.
[31:17] fire. Now earlier in chapter 7, we had 144,000 Jews sealed by God also for the purpose of witnessing.
[31:29] And they were protected by the seal of God. Now these two guys are protected differently. And it says they have the ability to produce fire and consume their enemies.
[31:45] and very, very unique. So it'll, this fire coming out of their mouth will devour their enemies and if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner.
[32:01] These have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the day of their prophecy. How many days are they going to prophesy? How many years?
[32:14] Three and a half years. And where in scripture do we have a drought for three and a half years? With Elijah, King Ahab.
[32:28] And so, we have Elijah also calling down fire from heaven, consuming his enemies. Here, it's a method of protection for them.
[32:40] And in this three and a half period, we're just told there will be no rain. In the seal judgments, we talked about the third horse representing famine in the land.
[33:01] No rain. War. It's fitting together as God's scriptures come together like this.
[33:16] And then they further, verse six, 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 and all plagues as often as they desire.
[33:32] And where do we have water turning to blood? It's Moses. Sorry? And by Moses in Egypt.
[33:46] And how many plagues did God bring upon the land of Egypt through the hand of Moses? Ten of them. And here, we have mentioned they have power to turn waters to blood and to strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire.
[34:10] Though many, many believe that these two men may be Moses and Elijah, the same two men that came down from heaven to the Mount of Transfiguration where they met Jesus, Peter, James, and John witnessed that.
[34:30] And these two men came down and talked with Christ in regard to his coming decease or death. And then they disappeared and went back up.
[34:47] And the disciples are left with that image. Here, here we have a description. So we can't say for certain that it's going to be Moses and Elijah, but the wording, the descriptions sure point that way very strongly.
[35:06] And regardless, it's going to be these two men representing the law and the prophets from the Old Testament. The very thing that Israel today is holding on to is the law and the prophets and not the New Testament, the revelation of the law and the prophets, Jesus Christ.
[35:29] So now we're going to have men from that era sharing Jesus Christ. And by that, many Jews will come to the faith.
[35:47] Verse 7, let's continue. when they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.
[36:00] For three and a half years, the world will be tormented by their message of repentance and nobody can kill them. and when that time expires, the beast, Antichrist, Satan, working through the Antichrist, will war against them and kill them and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified.
[36:36] So clearly, Jerusalem. and so these two men will be killed and their bodies will lie in the streets of Jerusalem publicly after three and a half years of preaching.
[36:54] The impact to the world. Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three and a half days and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves.
[37:13] And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them making merry and send gifts to one another because there are, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
[37:26] what a scene. Two, three and a half years of prophetic message, the world resisting, hating, it says being tormented by that message but not repenting.
[37:48] And, and then when God allows the Antichrist the power over them, they are killed and then the world reacts and refuses to allow burial for these two men and they are left in the streets to decay for the whole world to see and while they're watching that, they're celebrating, they're making merry, they're feasting, they're sending gifts, it reminds me of Christmas time.
[38:27] How, how tragic that they are celebrating the death or the end of God's prophetic program. And, and I believe this is where the mark of the beast will follow, following this.
[38:48] And, verse 11, we're gonna quickly run through this and finish off. 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 those who saw them.
[39:09] Can you imagine the hush? The celebrating ceases instantly. and, and with the technology today, the whole world may be watching as, as they're videoing these two men starting to move, the breath of God coming in them, and all of a sudden they stand up.
[39:36] and it says, fear came upon those that saw it.
[39:50] And then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, come up here, as they ascended to heaven in a cloud and their enemies saw them.
[40:04] It's similar to the resurrection of Christ. not the resurrection, but the ascension. As Jesus went up to heaven in a cloud, there only the eleven saw them, saw him go up.
[40:19] Here it says the enemies saw them. Arise to heaven in a cloud, hearing the voice come up here. In the same hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell and in the earthquake seven thousand people were killed and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.
[40:56] God's testimony testimony is ongoing. It's continuing. His faithfulness is continuing.
[41:08] And when mankind thinks they are victorious, watch out. God, when they put Jesus on the cross and into the grave, we have defeated God.
[41:33] Three days later. Three days later. Here it's three and a half days later. Excuse me.
[41:51] As we live in a world that more and more has adapted the attitude, God is out of the picture.
[42:04] He's dead. He's not there. We can do as we please. our hearts, our cry should be, how long, Lord?
[42:21] Because we know it's a matter of time. It's coming. It's sure. There's no doubt that the time will come and they will know God is alive.
[42:40] alive. If anybody is alert and even spiritually alert today, we saw that last night, God is alive. The second woe is past.
[43:01] Behold, the third woe is coming quickly. I'm going to stop here. Verse 15 is the seventh angel sounding. We're going to save that for the next time I speak, Lord willing.
[43:16] But just as we close here this morning, working through this, the love of God evangelizing again to witnesses, more specifically to the Jews to the Jews to the time periods by the Jewish people, here God is doing something extraordinary from their own people to send down witnesses that are credible, witnesses that the Jews look up to and revere.
[44:10] God is awesome. Let's close. Father, as we live in the times of prophecy being fulfilled, it's, Lord, on one hand, it's a bit scary.
[44:39] On the other hand, Lord, it's exciting to know that every word of your prophecy will come to pass and we're witnessing it even in this lifetime.
[44:56] Father, speak to us, speak through us, warning others of judgment to come.
[45:08] Let the love of Christ not only abide in our hearts, but radiate out to those around us. Again, Father, to your glory.
[45:22] In Jesus' name, amen.