Rick Joyner's Blog, page 10

Embracing our Trials—The Book of Revelation

         This week we come to one of the most exciting and dramatic signs in Revelation:

“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:10).

         The accuser is cast down! One of the most difficult trials Christians deal with is false accusation. This is why the Lord uses the accuser as one of the primary instruments to challenge and thereby strengthen His people to become overcomers. If we know that God approves of us, then it should not matter what anyone else on earth thinks of us. We will be free of one of the strongest yokes of bondage—the shackle of human expectation and seeking to please men.

         Knowing how crucial it is to have our faith in God and not men, it should never surprise us when we’re faced with false accusations. We should embrace them as an opportunity to reaffirm our encouragement and faith. In fact, the fear of men, or seeking the respect, honor, or recognition of men is probably the biggest trap—and one of the biggest destroyers of faith in God—that we will face as servants of God. Below are a few Scriptures that confirm this.

                  “But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not             setting your mind on God's interests but man's’" (Matthew 16:23).

       How would you like to be called “Satan” by the Son of God? That may be the most severe rebuke in the Bible, and it was the result of Peter setting his mind on man’s interests instead of God’s. If we are going to be the servants of the King of kings, then no other interests or sympathies can be allowed to compromise our devotion to His interests. We are called to love all men, even lay down our lives for them, but never side with interests that are not aligned with God’s. These constant attacks of the accuser help us to steel this resolve.

              "How can you believe when you seek glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from   the one and only true God" (John 5:44)?

         The Greek word translated “glory” in this verse is also sometimes translated “recognition.” Here we see that one of the major destroyers of faith is seeking the glory or recognition of men rather than from God. The Son of God asks how we can believe if we’re seeking the recognition of man rather than God. To serve the King of kings and be His messengers, we must have a single-minded devotion to seek His approval and recognition alone. Any compromise of this will likely lead to compromise in other areas of our life.

         Have you ever wondered why the Lord fled to the mountains when the people came to make Him King? This seemed to be a well-meaning acknowledgement from the people of who He was, but it was actually one of the most presumptuous acts of men. If the people give us our authority, then they can also take it away. If we are constantly seeking the favor of the people, who is going to rule? The people could not make Jesus King because He was born King. He was made King by His Father and, therefore, the only one He had to please was His Father. That is how He lived.

         There is probably no greater freedom that we can ever know than to live in the pure and holy fear of the Lord instead of the fear of man. This is not just about our freedom, but also about the King receiving the undivided and total dedication of His servants.

         The devil’s constant tactic to distract us into being overly concerned about what people think of us to a large degree by using false accusations. Embrace each one as the opportunity it is to resist the devil’s temptation, and soon he will flee from you. Until he has been cast down, or fled, don’t waste your trials. Embrace false accusations as the great opportunity they are to be even more resolutely focused on doing the will of the King and pleasing Him in all things.

Israel in Revelation—The Book of Revelation

         This week we come to one of the most exciting and dramatic signs in Revelation 12, which I will comment on after each verse:

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;

and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth (Revelation 12:1-2).

         This is generally accepted to represent Israel, which gave birth to the Messiah and was then immediately assaulted by the powers of this world. They have been under this assault and threat of destruction since.

         Others see this as “the Israel of God,” which includes both spiritual and natural Israel.

 

Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.

And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child (Revelation 12:3-4).

 

         The dragon is the devil. The seven heads and ten horns, or powers, are likely the governments and heads of state that he manifested himself through to destroy the Messiah and the nation that gave birth to Him.

         It is noteworthy in this Scripture that the devil seeks to devour the child when He is born, which happened when Christ was born. This also reveals a basic strategy of the devil. With almost every work that is born of God, there will be an onslaught and attempt to destroy it while it is still young and vulnerable. We should be prepared for this anytime we are used to start anything new.

And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days (Revelation 12:5-6).

         Of course Christ was born and delivered from the attempts of the devil to destroy Him while an infant. When the devil thought he had finally destroyed the greatest threat to his domain over the earth by crucifying Him, it turned out to be the greatest blow of all time to the devil’s dominion. This resulted in the ultimate salvation of the world from the consequences of the Fall and the collusion with the devil. Christ was then caught up to God to wait for the time to take dominion over the world that He purchased with His blood.

         The woman who gave birth to Christ—Israel—was driven immediately into the wilderness, scattered among the nations where God preserved her miraculously from almost continuous attempts by the devil to destroy her.

And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,

and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.

And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him (Revelation 12:7-9).

         The next great event is that Michael, the angel assigned in Scripture for the protection and purposes of Israel, goes to war with the devil and his messengers. Michael and his forces prevail until the dragon and his messengers are cast out of heaven and thrown down to the earth.

         There is much debate about when this will happen or has happened. It is true that biblical prophecy seldom follows a linear path—it can jump ahead or backward centuries or millenniums in a single verse. This seems to keep those who would know the truth dependent on the Holy Spirit for an accurate understanding.

         Since there are more keys to understanding this passage later in Revelation, we will address them in more detail then. For now, we need to understand the battle. One thing we see is a major intent of the devil to destroy Israel. This would not be unless Israel was not still a major threat to the devil with a major purpose at the end of this age.

The Temple of God—The Book of Revelation

         This week we will cover the rest of the text in Revelation 11:15-19, commenting after each verse.

Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”

         As covered, the seventh angel represents the final message to go forth. When this one sounds, there are “loud voices in heaven,” which speaks of the power of this message being so great and elevated that it is heard throughout heaven, or the entire spiritual realm. It is probable that not only will every nation and village hear the Gospel of the kingdom, but every living soul will hear this powerful message.

         When this message sounds, the kingdom of the world begins to come under the domain of Christ. Many nations will align themselves with the kingdom when this Gospel is preached. To see their nation prepared for this has become a cause for many Christians throughout the world, which is a sign of this being near.

And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying,

“We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.”

         There is a general consensus that these twenty-four elders are a council of the greatest souls to have walked with God on the earth. Others believe they are the spiritual “sons of Zadok” who are given the highest duty in heaven—to minister to the Lord Himself. Regardless, they are no doubt of the highest rank in heaven. Even so, when the Lamb comes into their presence, or they even hear the message of His kingdom, they fall on their faces before Him. This King, who will become so personal with us that He lives in us and is always with us, is the most exalted One there will ever be in heaven and earth. The wise bow the knee to Him now.

"And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."

         The powers of this age have never treated the Lord’s messengers, or even His Son, with the respect they are due. The proclamation of the Gospel of His kingdom will stir the anti-God forces like nothing has since Jesus walked the earth. It is to be expected, as all things must be revealed for what they are, and this anointed word going forth will reveal where everyone on earth stands.

         It is also at this time that the reward of the faithful begins. For those who stand boldly for the Lord and the Gospel in these times, it will be one of the greatest honors for all eternity. This will be the time of the ultimate battle between light and darkness, good and evil, and therefore the time when it will take the greatest courage and faith to stand. This is when some of the greatest saints of all time will be proven. This is why the Lord said that “the last shall be first,” and He has saved His best wine for last. Do not waste this greatest of privileges.

And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

         As we see in a number of biblical prophecies, the temple of God on earth, the church, is a parallel to the temple of God in heaven. Here we see that when this temple in heaven is open, first there are flashes of lightning. These speak of revelation, especially revelation that reveals what is hidden in darkness. Then thunder, which is a prophetic metaphor for the voice of the Lord. The earthquake speaks of shaking everything that can be shaken, which we are told of in Hebrews 12.

         The great hailstorm speaks of the destruction of all that is not in a proper shelter. There is one great shelter that can protect us from anything—being in the will of the Lord. Those protected from the destruction will be those who have sought first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, esteeming His will and purposes above their own desires. These will have nothing to fear from anything that is coming on the earth.

True Friendship with God—The Book of Revelation

         We have been covering one of the most important emerging issues of all time—the sounding of the seventh trumpet in Revelation. “Our God Reigns”—this is the preaching of the Gospel of the kingdom. Even though much from this prophecy has yet to be fulfilled, according to the unfolding timeline, we are coming to the time for this last message to go forth across the earth. What we do not know is how long this will take to unfold or be completed.

         Last week we covered how the basis of this Gospel is the King Himself. We are not just proclaiming the coming of a new system, but we are proclaiming the coming of the Lord Jesus Himself. This is crucial to keep in mind. If the coming kingdom gets reduced to a system, or just principles, then we fall far short of the message. We can have the best form of government, but we can still have bad government if good people are not in it. The Lord builds on people, not just systems or principles. The method He demonstrated from the time He walked the earth is to not just seek to change people’s behavior, but to change hearts so that people do the right thing for the right reason. As the historian Will Durant observed, “Caesar sought to change men by changing institutions, but Jesus changed institutions by changing men.”

         For this reason it is important to understand what the Lord is doing. Even more important is to understand why. This is where we grow into true friendship with God. We want to be obedient to Him as our King in all things, but He is looking for more than just obedience from His friends—He is looking for us to be of one mind and heart with Him. 

         We must have faith in Him, and in the power and authority of His kingdom, to demonstrate the power and authority of His kingdom. We must always keep in mind that we seek to build people’s faith and trust in Him, not us. The first century apostles did this by preaching “Jesus Christ and the resurrection from the dead.” That was their whole message. It is the apostolic message, yet it has rarely been preached since their time.

         The message of the Gospel is about a Person, not just concepts and principles. It is also about His overcoming death. The devil controls men by fear, and the ultimate fear is the fear of death. If the fear of death is broken, then all the other yokes of fear will be easy to break. These yokes must be broken for a person to come under the Lordship of Jesus. If fear is controlling us, then fear is still our lord in place of Christ. So the purpose of our message is to compel men to believe in the Lord and live by faith in Him in place of the controlling fear.

         Of course, this begins with us having faith in Him and freedom from fear. These are both things that we grow in. In II Corinthians 13:5 we are told to “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith.” How do we test ourselves this way? There are ways that we evaluate our spiritual growth, and there are ways that we evaluate relationships. These do not need to be complicated, but if we really care about something we will do this.

         A primary way we know that we are getting close to a person is that we know their voice. I could give you all of the technical details about my wife’s voice—she is a soprano, speaks in so many decibels, with a certain tone, etc.—but I doubt that you would be able to pick her out of a group of women talking just by knowing these facts. However, she can be talking in a group of dozens of women and I will know where she is because I know her voice so well and we have spent so much time together. That is the only true way that we can get to know the voice of the Lord too—spending time with Him.

         Knowing His voice is crucial. He said in John 10 that His sheep follow Him because they know His voice. In Romans 10:17 we’re told, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” The faith to do His works comes by hearing Him. Just as Jesus only did what He saw the Father do, the faith to do the works of Christ come from getting His orders to do them.

         This is why a core devotion of our ministry has been to help all believers know the voice of the Lord. We do this by being resolute in our main purpose as human beings to love Him. If we love Him we will be driven to get closer to Him and do His will.

All Things In Him—The Book of Revelation

         This week, we will elaborate more on the proclamation of the Gospel of the kingdom referred to in Revelation 11:15-17 as the “seventh trumpet,” or message, to go forth.

         The seventh worldwide message to go forth is the greatest of all—the King is taking up His kingdom and will now rule over the earth. “Gospel” means “good news,” and the earth has never heard better news than this. Many have claimed to proclaim this message but have fallen short of doing so as Jesus and the first apostles proclaimed it, and they almost all do it the same way.

         A friend of mine, Robin McMillan, had a great insight about this when he said, “Most of the messages that have claimed to be the Gospel of the kingdom have really been about how to control people and get them to behave the way we think they should. Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the kingdom by demonstrating it and its power over all of the conditions on the earth.”

          Jesus basically went about saying (to paraphrase), “You know, we don’t have any lack in heaven. Watch what happens when heaven touches this little boy’s lunch.” Suddenly, what was intended to feed one little boy became enough for five thousand. Then Jesus would say something like, “You know, there are no cripples in heaven, so watch what happens when heaven touches this cripple.” The cripple was instantly healed. There is no death in heaven, so what happened when heaven touched a dead person? They lived. Then He said that when His disciples proclaimed this Gospel, the same evidence of heaven’s reality would accompany them.

         We briefly covered before how the first mention of something in Scripture was usually a profound revelation of its purpose, and let us again consider the first mention of God’s house in Scripture. This occurred when Jacob had a dream of the messengers of God ascending and descending on a ladder that reached into heaven. That is a basic revelation of what God’s house, the church, is called to be—the place of access to heaven. The messengers of God that we are all called to be ascend into the heavenly realm and then descend, bringing back evidence of heaven’s reality and its authority over the earth.

         As we also covered, Jesus is Jacob’s ladder, as He declared in His discourse with Nathaniel. Growing in kingdom authority is not just learning the principles and methods of the kingdom—it is growing up in all things into Christ, the King. We only have true spiritual authority to the degree that we abide in the King. As we abide in Him, we learn His ways—not just what He is doing, but why.

         In this same way, the ultimate declaration of the Gospel of the kingdom will come from the King through His people. Therefore, our goal is to not just hear the words of the Lord, but to hear the Word Himself. This is personal, and it is about relationship. Again, it is not just learning “kingdom principles” as so many have tried to present the Gospel of the kingdom. Rather, it is seeing the King and learning to see with His eyes, hear with His ears, and understand with His heart. This will always reduce down to loving Him and loving one another, to relationship with Him and with each other.

         Spiritual authority is founded on love. Jesus felt compassion for the sheep without a shepherd and He became their Shepherd. Jesus felt compassion for those living in darkness and He became their teacher. Principles can be helpful, but only if they lead us to relationship. The messages reduced to just principles become cold, hard, and bureaucratic institutions that may have a form of godliness but have lost the true power of transformation.

         This is not to reduce the kingdom to emotions, as many consider love to be just an emotion—it is much more. There are many types of love in Scripture, but we can be assured that God’s love is full of both grace and truth. God’s love is not based on our religious performance, but on His love for His Son who purchased us with His life. This is why and how our approach to God is through the blood of Jesus. This is like how the priests would never enter the presence of the Lord, represented by the Ark of the Covenant, except with the blood.

BOTTOM LINE: It’s all about Jesus. As Ephesians tells us, all things will be summed up in Him, and our life is summed up in Him. The Gospel of the kingdom is a revelation of the King, as we will cover in more depth next week.

The Gospel of the Kingdom—The Book of Revelation

         This week we come to one of the most wonderful and exciting declarations in the Bible:

         Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever."

         And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying,

         "We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign” (Revelation 11:15-17).

         The seventh trumpet, or the seventh worldwide message to go forth, is the greatest of all—the King is taking up His kingdom and will now rule over the earth. “Gospel” means “good news,” and the earth has never heard better news than this.

         Jesus said this Gospel of the kingdom must be preached throughout the earth before the end of this age could come (see Matthew 24:14). It is the opinion of many that this Gospel has not been preached to the whole earth, and that it has not been preached since the first century. What has mostly been presented is the gospel of salvation, not the Gospel of the kingdom. The gospel of salvation is certainly “good news,” and so wonderful that it is understandable that this alone could become the focus and have such power to transform the world. Yet, it is not the whole Gospel, and it is not the Gospel that must be preached to the whole world.

         The Gospel of the kingdom is about the coming kingdom of God. It begins with the redemption of the earth by the cross of Jesus, but it goes on to the reconciliation of the earth to God. This is followed by its restoration from the consequences of the Fall. It is consummated when the Son delivers the restored earth to God, the Father, and God Himself comes to live on the earth among men.

         To know that the earth will be the paradise that it was originally intended to be is almost too wonderful to comprehend, but to know that Almighty God has chosen the earth to be His ultimate dwelling place takes it beyond comprehension. God is going to walk with man in His garden again. Now consider this—the way has already been opened for us to experience this now.

         The Lord has used the Fall of man to bring forth “a new creation” that transcends the original creation, and we have been invited to live in this now. Becoming a new creation is not just being restored back to what Adam had, but it is an invitation to become members of God’s own family and take on His divine nature in the resurrection. He has invited us to sit with Him now on His throne and become more at home in the heavenly realm than in the natural, earthly realm.

         As one of the ancients wrote, “We are not called to be natural men who have occasional heavenly experiences, but we are called to be spiritual men who have occasional natural experiences.” The new creation means to be a new species that is both natural and spiritual, but one that is morphing into becoming more and more spiritual. Some believe that this is what Enoch did so that there had become such a thin veil between him and the heavenly realm that God just pulled him over into heaven. Perhaps, but there are many references to this being our calling in Christ—to keep our eyes on things above and not on the earth.

         The resurrection at any level will be more wonderful than we can comprehend in this life, but we are also told of “a better resurrection” that some attain to. This is the “high calling of God in Christ” that Paul wrote about in Philippians 3. Paul did not consider that he had yet attained to it, but he had come to the place of focusing everything on attaining this high calling.

         In II Timothy 2:15, we are told about “rightly dividing the word of truth” (KNJV). We cannot take just one Scripture verse or concept and apply it to the whole when there are others that address the same issue differently. These differences are not in conflict with each other, but they reveal different aspects of an issue. For example, some have taken the references to the heavenly resurrection to assume that all who are given eternal life and are resurrected in heaven when many other Scriptures talk about those who inhabit the earth after the resurrection. These are not in conflict, but both are true. The heavenly resurrection is “the better resurrection” that some attain to, but not everyone.

         Some have assumed that everyone who believes in Christ will attain the heavenly resurrection, and that the earthly one is for those righteous ones who walked with God before Christ. Yet, there are Scriptures that refute this. Even so, the Scriptures are pretty ambiguous about both resurrections, so we should not be dogmatic about our conclusion. Nonetheless, we can be sure that there is “a better resurrection” that some attain to. 

         Keep in mind that we see in part, and so remaining open, it appears that the multitude that stands “before the throne” in Revelation has gained eternal life by their faith in the atonement of the cross of Jesus, but they have lived less than overcoming lives. Most Christians today would fall far short of even being a disciple, according to the incredibly stringent qualifications for this that Jesus gave. Yet they are resurrected and have gained eternal life by the faith they have in His atonement. However, they will be those reigned over by those who attained authority in the age to come through the ways Jesus specified in His teachings, such as in the Parable of the Talents.

         There are many deep and rich discussions and debates about this from teachers in church history. Even so, I think the Lord intentionally left this so ambiguous to keep us pressing on for the prize, like Paul the apostle expressed. However, about the kingdom itself we have many more specifics, and these we must know and begin to proclaim. This is the next great message that I am expecting to hear proclaimed.

Who Are the Two Witnesses? The Book of Revelation

         This week, we come to Revelation 11:3-6 and two of the most interesting characters in the Bible:

         "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”

         These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

         And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.

         These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.

         Like the rest of the Book of Revelation, there is much speculation about who these two witnesses are. Bruce Wilkinson told me that he thought these were Enoch and Elijah. This is one of the most common assumptions, and this makes sense as these are the only two recorded in Scripture to not have died. The Scripture is clear that it is appointed to every man to die once. Then again, we have multitudes that seemingly will not die because of the rapture.

         Interestingly, many biblical scholars and theologians throughout the church age have believed these two witnesses to be the Old and New Testaments. When I first read this, I was dubious, but the more I studied the position, the more sense it made. I still have not concluded this to be the case, but it has enough merit to consider. Here is a brief explanation of this school of thought.

         These two have the power to shut the sky and strike the earth with plagues. There are other ways that what is written about these two could be applied to the Old and New Testaments. So we will consider this:

         When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.

         And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

         Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations 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 will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

         But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them.

         And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.

         And in 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 is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly (Revelation 11:7-14).

         To continue the reason for why many thought that these are the Testaments, it was written that these two would “prophesy in sackcloth for forty-two months,” or 1,260 days. As we covered previously, this prophetic perspective is linked to the historical period where an imperial decree established the papacy. During that time it was against the law for anyone but an authorized priest to read the Bible, and for much of that time it was capital punishment. Certainly it looked as if the Scriptures themselves were prophesying from a humble position to which few paid attention.

         During the French Renaissance, which in some ways was consummated in the French Revolution, there was a period of several years, which could have been three and a half years, when it seemed that the entire focus was to destroy the Bible and eradicate it from the earth. It seemed that the Bible was so discredited and scorned that its influence on the earth had ended and it was dead in the streets. Then almost as suddenly, the forces of the Reformation regrouped. There was a worldwide movement to recover esteem for the Bible as God’s Word. It could well have seemed that these two witnesses, the Old and New Testaments, had indeed been raised from the dead and were elevated to a place high above the earth with greater power.  

         This brief exploration of this position does not do justice to it, but this was the general and popular understanding of the fulfillment of this text throughout the Reformation and until the 1844 Advent Movement, when it began to be taught that all of Revelation was about the future. Again, I am presenting it here because this position is hardly known in modern eschatology. It carries about as much merit to it as the other speculations about these two witnesses, especially since so many hold to the belief that the two olive trees of Zechariah are the Old and New Testaments. Regardless, it can be helpful to consider all the schools of thought. To date, I have not seen any that one could be dogmatic about, and therefore I think wisdom requires that we remain open to who or what these two witnesses are.

Who Are the Two Witnesses? The Book fo Revelation

         This week, we come to Revelation 11:3-6 and two of the most interesting characters in the Bible:

         "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”

         These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

         And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.

         These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.

         Like the rest of the Book of Revelation, there is much speculation about who these two witnesses are. Bruce Wilkinson told me that he thought these were Enoch and Elijah. This is one of the most common assumptions, and this makes sense as these are the only two recorded in Scripture to not have died. The Scripture is clear that it is appointed to every man to die once. Then again, we have multitudes that seemingly will not die because of the rapture.

         Interestingly, many biblical scholars and theologians throughout the church age have believed these two witnesses to be the Old and New Testaments. When I first read this, I was dubious, but the more I studied the position, the more sense it made. I still have not concluded this to be the case, but it has enough merit to consider. Here is a brief explanation of this school of thought.

         These two have the power to shut the sky and strike the earth with plagues. There are other ways that what is written about these two could be applied to the Old and New Testaments. So we will consider this:

         When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.

         And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

         Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations 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 will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

         But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them.

         And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.

         And in 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 is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly (Revelation 11:7-14).

         To continue the reason for why many thought that these are the Testaments, it was written that these two would “prophesy in sackcloth for forty-two months,” or 1,260 days. As we covered previously, this prophetic perspective is linked to the historical period where an imperial decree established the papacy. During that time it was against the law for anyone but an authorized priest to read the Bible, and for much of that time it was capital punishment. Certainly it looked as if the Scriptures themselves were prophesying from a humble position to which few paid attention.

         During the French Renaissance, which in some ways was consummated in the French Revolution, there was a period of several years, which could have been three and a half years, when it seemed that the entire focus was to destroy the Bible and eradicate it from the earth. It seemed that the Bible was so discredited and scorned that its influence on the earth had ended and it was dead in the streets. Then almost as suddenly, the forces of the Reformation regrouped. There was a worldwide movement to recover esteem for the Bible as God’s Word. It could well have seemed that these two witnesses, the Old and New Testaments, had indeed been raised from the dead and were elevated to a place high above the earth with greater power.  

         This brief exploration of this position does not do justice to it, but this was the general and popular understanding of the fulfillment of this text throughout the Reformation and until the 1844 Advent Movement, when it began to be taught that all of Revelation was about the future. Again, I am presenting it here because this position is hardly known in modern eschatology. It carries about as much merit to it as the other speculations about these two witnesses, especially since so many hold to the belief that the two olive trees of Zechariah are the Old and New Testaments. Regardless, it can be helpful to consider all the schools of thought. To date, I have not seen any that one could be dogmatic about, and therefore I think wisdom requires that we remain open to who or what these two witnesses are.

Measuring the Temple—The Book of Revelation

         “Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, "Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it.

         “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 under foot the holy city for forty-two months” (Revelation 11:1-2).

         Last week we addressed what it could mean to measure the altar—or the cross—and the people who worshipped in the temple. This week we will examine what it could mean to measure the temple.

         In the timing of this unfolding revelation, we should expect a major movement with Christian leaders considering the awesome purpose and potential of the church. This would include comparing what it is to what it was designed to be, which would lead to a great movement to see the church become what God designed it to be. There have always been some who have done this, but it accelerated dramatically in 1948.

         First, we should consider that even in its weakened and divided state, probably operating at less than 10% of what it is called to be, the church is the most powerful entity on the planet for social and cultural influence. It may have lost much influence in the U.S. and Europe in recent times, but it has grown dramatically in almost every other part of the world. What would happen if the church recovered just 20% of what it’s called to be and moved relentlessly to become all that God intended? We would experience a worldwide revival called “the harvest.”

         Understand it or not, like it or not, the church is the vehicle through which the Lord will do His work on the earth in this age and the age to come. He called the church His “body”—we are His appendages on the earth. There is no other vehicle named in Scripture that He will use. Like King David learned the hard way, we may think that our new ox cart will be what brings the glory of God back to His people, but that is a dangerous presumption. His glory must be carried on the shoulders (authority) of the priests that He appointed to carry it.

         We can expect a great movement to evaluate the temple, the church, and see her restored to all she was created to be. The seeds of such a movement have been sown by great teachers, beginning with the Latter Rain Revival of 1948. Some from that movement veered off into the extremes of various doctrines, but that has happened with many revivals or moves of God. This seems to be the case particularly when a revival or movement is being used to restore an important truth to the church, which this Latter Rain Revival did.

         The core teachings of this revival were about what the New Covenant church was called to be, especially in the operation of all of the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit. Powerful prophets and teachers were raised up in the revival that impacted the whole body of Christ for decades to come. These set the stage for many of the powerful movements that have impacted the church since.

         Again, the church is called the Lord’s body because it is the vessel He is found in and works through. He could do anything He wanted without the church, but He chose not to. The church is also called His bride, His wife. The maturing of His church into the bride that He deserves is a main purpose for this age. The Lord redeemed the earth with His blood and could have taken His authority over it immediately after His resurrection. Yet, He waited this long to use this age as “training for reigning” for His bride.

         True friends of the Bridegroom will have a main devotion of seeing the bride made ready for the King. We can expect this measuring of the church to increase and become a main devotion of His people. As this happens, we will see the church become what she is called to be.   

         The forty-two months given to the nations adds up to 1,260 days, a number repeated in Revelation. In Ezekiel 4:6, the Lord said that He had given a year for a day. Often in prophetic symbolism, days stand for years. As we touched on before, it was exactly 1,260 years between the decree of the Roman emperor that gave the Bishop of Rome authority over the church an a decree through Napoleon that ended it.

         Around the time of Napoleon’s decree, many movements began to restore the government of the church to its original design. With almost every recovery of the ecclesia, or structure and order of the church, a major advancement of the church was created, and ingathering into it. Indeed, the contrast between the false church, “Mystery Babylon,” and God’s true church and temple, the New Jerusalem, is a major theme of Revelation, as we will continue to see.

Measuring the Cross—The Book of Revelation

         Now we come to Revelation 11:1-2:

         Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, "Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it.

         "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 under foot the holy city for forty-two months.”

         There is a great diversity of speculation among the different schools of eschatology about what this temple is. I have not seen a single reference to speculation about the old temple being rebuilt in Jerusalem before the 1844 Advent Movement. Before that movement, there seemed to be a consensus that all references to a present or future “temple of God” were a reference to the church.

         It appears that the theory of a rebuilt temple was required for those who had a futuristic view of Daniel and Revelation—to have a place for the antichrist to “take his seat” in the temple of God, which they view as the same person as “the abomination of desolation.” Perhaps, but I consider this to be a reference to the church, like virtually all the important teachers and writers who addressed Revelation before the 1844 Advent Movement did, including some direct disciples of John the Revelator.  

         What does it mean to measure the cross, the temple, or the people who worship in it? Measuring in biblical prophecies  is usually more than just getting the dimensions—it is also an evaluation of quality and success in relation to its purpose. This implies that the leadership of the church, which John represents here, were given a rod, or authority, for measuring the church, those who worship in it, and the cross. How would this be fulfilled?

         Let’s begin with the altar. The Altar of Burnt Offering in the Old Covenant was a biblical prophecy of the cross in the New Covenant. The cross of Jesus fulfilled all of the sacrifices made on the Altar of Burnt Offering. So how would we measure the cross?

         From the first century, there were continuous assaults and false teachings directed at diluting or even nullifying the power of the cross in the life of the church and that of the individual Christian. It is written that the message of the cross is the power of God (see I Corinthians 1:18), and all the grace, mercy, and power of God are released to His people through the cross of Jesus. The application of the cross is fundamental to the life and health of the church and the individual believer. Certainly this is something that every Christian in a leadership position should constantly measure in order to discern the health of those in their care.

         Because we have access to God through the blood of Jesus and His propitiation offering on the cross, the ability of the people to apply the cross to their lives is a primary factor determining their ability to worship God with their lives. This is fundamental to the quality of our worship. Worship under the New Covenant is not about devotion to rituals as much as it is a life lived in obedience and abiding in the Lord. In doing so, we glorify the Lord. Jesus is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. We must know Him as all three to walk with Him as we are called to.

         As we covered, the Reformers saw any attack on the cross, or any dilution of the message of the cross, as being the work of the antichrist. This was because of the centrality of the cross in the doctrine of salvation through the cross of Jesus alone. Most Reformers viewed “the sacrifice of the mass” as “the abomination of desolation”—or “the abomination that desolates”—because it was the most fundamental attack on the cross of Jesus in the life of the church and individual believers.

         This was not just about attacking a ritual of communion, but the doctrine behind this ritual changed from what was originally intended. In the doctrine of the sacrifice of the mass, Jesus only died for Adam’s sin. For the remission of personal sin, a believer had to go to a priest who would “offer Christ again” for their personal sins. This is why they taught that the bread and wine of communion was miraculously changed into the literal body and blood of the Lord. This made a human priest the mediator, even though Scripture says that there is only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (see I Timothy 2:5). As we are also told in Hebrews 9:28, Christ was “offered once for all….”

         The fundamental truth that our salvation and the grace, mercy, and power of God is dependent on the cross alone is worthy to be measured regularly by church leaders. Under the New Covenant there is not a special class of priests that mediate between God and men—rather, every believer is a priest. These were the most important New Covenant truths recovered by the Reformation. These were based on the truth that all church doctrine must be based on Scripture, not church dogma that had developed so many varied and unbiblical teachings that separated the people from God and elevated an institution to take His place.

         Next week we will address what it means to “measure the temple.”