At the end of the last devotion, the two witnesses were killed. This devotional reading looks at why that is not the end of the story.
Nuggets
- The two witnesses will be resurrected and called back to Heaven.
- The second woe was an earthquake killing 7,000 people.
At the end of the last devotion, the two witnesses were killed by Satan and the antichrist. What happens next?
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in The Trumpets and the Bowls series
Resurrection
“For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here!’ And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them” (Rev. 11: 9-12 ESV)
The two witnesses will be resurrected and called back to Heaven.
Three and a Half Days
I wonder if it is significant that the number of days the two witnesses remained dead is three and a half. We know Jesus was in the grave for three days – if we count it Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
But then it could reference the time in which the two witnesses had to witness. It ratio would be a day for a year.
Whatever the significance, the witnesses’ enemies were celebrating their deaths. They didn’t want them buried out of sight and forgotten,
They wanted to gloat.
Breath of Life from God
Ooo, baby! God always has the last word, doesn’t He?
Satan doesn’t like when God has the last word because it frustrates him. He doesn’t get his way.
We can’t see the witnesses’ resurrection – or even Lazarus’ – and think we are going to get the same treatment. Yes, God love us and wants the best for us. But physical death is in the plan for us.
I love what Matthew Henry said. He wrote, “God’s witnesses may be slain, but they shall rise again: not in their persons, till the general resurrection, but in their successors. God will revive his work, when it seems to be dead in the world.”
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Who God is using to speak the message isn’t important. The message is what is important.
Then, one day, everyone will hear the call. Believers will be called to an eternal life in Heaven. Nonbelievers will be called to an eternal life in hell.
Spurgeon reminds us that we are called to wait for that moment. No, it won’t be a call back to the life we knew. It will be a call to a new life with God.
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I don’t think that means we are supposed to hurry death along so we can get to eternal life. We are called to be witnesses here. We have to fulfill that calling.
Went Up
It isn’t that the two witnesses were just resurrected. They ascended to Heaven.
Ooo, baby. Spurgeon said that the two witnesses will hear a “… whisper from the skies to the believer’s heart.”
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God’s still small voice is going to call us home. That means we have to listen carefully for it.
When Jesus ascended, only His faithful followers watched. Here, the enemies of the two witnesses watched.
Greenwood warned us that God doesn’t delegate anything to mankind. We are His creation, not equals with God. We are to learn of God’s great love and mercy.
I wonder if Satan ever misses Heaven. I bet that is where a lost of his anger comes from. He knows he gave up something beautiful and will never get it back again.
The Second Woe
“And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come” (Rev. 11: 13-14 ESV)
The second woe was an earthquake killing 7,000 people.
We had a discussion when we talked about the first woe about how the woes fit in with the seals, trumpets, and bowls.
We talked about how Spurgeon felt the woes were death, judgment, and the second death.
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The second woe is judgement. I thought that sounded like it is Revelation 20: 12.
But that doesn’t fit what this says. Revelation 20: 11 is where Heaven and earth pass away. If people are still here, it would be everyone, not just 7,000, that experience a physical death.
The only way that would work is if the 7,000 mean perfect or complete. It would be a number to represent everyone.
I thought about going back and rewriting the first woe. We do that, don’t we? We interpret the verses based on what we know, or we take them out of context.
I didn’t because that is what learning is all about. We have to accept that what we knew — or thought we knew — was wrong.
We as a Church aren’t good at admitting we are wrong. We must get better.
Easton talked about the judgments of God. He wrote, “The judgments of God’s mouth, and the judgments of God’s hand — the word and the work of God — the manifestation of His truth by verbal announcement, and the manifestation of His truth by providential dispensation, are alike efficacious, through the Divine blessing, to the conversion of the souls of men.”
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In Elaine-speak, God isn’t just going to talk about judging us. He is going to follow through and make the judgment become a reality. And that reality is going to be successful. It is going to accomplish God’s goal.
What is God’s goal in the Day of the Lord? “So that at the name of Jesus every knee should 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” (Phil. 2: 10-11 ESV).
God wants glory given to His Son – and to Him.
Yes, to do that, God is going to have these big events where the wicked are overwhelmed and everyone is in awe.
What is all this going to entail?
- Wars (Mt. 24: 6; Rev. 6: 3-4)
- Rumors of wars (Mt. 24: 6)
- Earthquakes (Mt. 24: 7; Rev. 6: 12-14)
- Famines (Mt. 24: 7; Rev. 6: 5-6)
- Pestilence (Rev. 6: 7-8)
- Great signs from heaven (Rev. 6: 12-14)
That will overwhelm everyone left.
Making the Connections #1
“Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here!’ And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them” (Rev. 11: 12 ESV)
Gladden made a good observation. The witnesses were told to come up to Heaven.
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But how do we know that Heaven is literally up? We don’t know where Heaven is, so we don’t know if it up, down, or sideways.
All we know is that there is one way to get there because there is one way to salvation.
- “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Ac. 4: 12 ESV).
- “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Ex. 20: 3-4 ESV).
- “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (Jn. 14: 6 ESV).
It isn’t wrong to use our terminology and what we know to describe spiritual things.
We just have to realize we may not be right. No sinful things are going to be in Heaven. It is going to be so far above our current understanding.
So, instead of thinking of Heaven as up there somewhere, we need to think of it as a higher, purer life.
Making the Connections #2
Let’s go back to the idea that God is going to whisper into every believer’s heart the invitation to come home. What does that mean?
God wants us to be focused on Him. If we aren’t, we aren’t going to hear the still, small voice.
That also means that God is eagerly waiting for the day in which He can do that whisper. Remember, He is even now preparing a place for us.
“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (Jn. 14: 2-3 ESV).
God wants every one of us to answer the call. He knows that there will be a significant number of goats. He also knows there will be goats masquerading as sheep.
God wants His sheep home with Him.
Making the Connections #3
Spurgeon said something that is so true. He wrote, “I can understand a man being in doubt about his interest in Christ, but I cannot understand a man’s resting content to be in these doubts.”
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We do doubt our sincerity in Christ. We question our understanding.
Yes, sometimes we doubt what God’s Word really says.
What Spurgeon is saying is we can’t roost there. We have to use that uncertainty to study God’s Word to find certainty in Him.
How Do We Apply This?
- Wait joyfully and patiently for eternal life to begin.
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Father God. We want to be Your witnesses – regardless of what that holds for us. We want to be obedient and will follow You even through the trials and tribulations. Amen.
What do you think?
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