Sermons and Outlines

Rev. 11:1-14 THE TWO WITNESSES

Intro: God always has His witnesses! Even in this time of great wickedness and

absolute rebellion against God, He has His witnesses in this sin cursed world. Ill. The

goal of this chapter and the entire book of Revelation, is to give glory to and to exalt

the blessed Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is possibly the most difficult chapter

in this book. It is simply so deep that we could literally spend hours explaining all the

twist and turns that are available here. Howver, we will try to get the gist of the

passage and glean some truth from it. Please notice that the events described here

probably take place within the first 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation. Anti-Christ has

established world-wide peace, a world religion, world economy and a seven year

contract with the nation of Israel. Let’s notice the events of this awful period.

I. v.1-2 THE TEMPLE WORSHIP (Ill. The wonder! Men wil build a

temple to worship and sacrifice to a God who has already accomplished all things)

(Ill. 3 Ttemples in the Word of God - 1. Solomon’s Temple - Destroyed 583 BC by

Nebuchadnezzar; 2. Zerubabbel’s Temple - Destroyed 168 BC by Antiochus

Ephiphanes; Herod’s Temple - Destroyed 70 Ad by Titus the Roman.) (Now, the

Temple is the church of believers - Eph. 2:21; 1 Cor. 6:19) There are two temples in

the future - The Millinial Temple - Eze. 40-44; and the Tribulation Temple. The Jews

will rebuild their temple! They are already beginning the processes that will make

this possible. As we study this passage, keep 2 things in mind, 1. We are on Jewish

ground; 2. This discusses a future temple.

A. v.2b The City Mentioned - Holy Cuty - Jerusalem, (Ill. Moslem, Christian,

Jew)

1. The Jews Must Return To Their Homeland - (Ill. Ridiculed) Fulfilled in

1948!

2. The Temple Must Be Rebuilt - (Ill. Ridiculed) Ill. The difficulties involved.

B. v.2c The Chronology Mentioned - 3 1/2 years. v.2, 3, 12:6 ,12:14 (Ill.

Daniels prophecy concerning Antichrist, Dan. 8:10. He will allow the temple to be

rebuilt,but after 3 1/2 years, he wil set himself up as God to be worshipped - 2 Thes. 2:4

C. v.1a-2a The Chastisement Mentioned - Ill. Rod is a type of judgment! This

temple is under judgment from God! Why? It rejects the ultimate sacrifice of

Jesus upon the cross and substitutes the sacrifices of men!

1. A part is given to the gentiles. They will be the instruments of judgment -

Lk.21:24.

II. v.3-12 THE TWO WITNESSES (Ill. The church is gone, but God

still has His men!)

A. v.3-6 The Inauguration of Their Ministry -

1. v.3 They are real people

2. v.3 Sackcloth - Mourning - Preaching Misery - No message of hope and

comfort!

3. v.3 Preach - Probably preach Jesus as the fulfilment of Holy Scripture.

4. v.4 Olive trees, Candlesticks - Spirit and Light. They will minister in the

power of God’s Spirit preaching His Light. (Ill. Zech 4:3 ,14)

5. v.5 They are Unstoppable - Power to devour enemies with fire, stop the rain,

and send plagues., turn the water to blood.

6. Who are they? Several guesses!

a. Elijah - Mal. 4:5, Ill. Elijah never died. Ill. Elijahs power. (Ill. A lone

voice in his generation)

b. Moses - Moses mentioned in Mal. 4:5 with Elijah. Moses seen with Elijah

in Matthew 17 on Mt of Transfiguration. The miracles and plagues were

preformed by Moses. (A lone voice!)

c. Enoch - He too was alone voice for God. He never died, and all must die -

Heb. 9:27

7. It doens’t really matter! What matters is that God has always got His man.

Ill Noah.

B. v.7-10 The Completion Of their Ministry

1. v.7 Killed by the beast - Rev. 13:1. If you are in God’s will, nothing can

harm you.

2. v.8 Their bodies lie unburied in the street for 3 1/2 days in the city of Vice,

Vanity and Violence. Jerusalem!

3. v.9 Ill. Ridiculed until the advent of TV. Ill. this will feed the drug induced,

godless, wickedness of the day.

4. v.10 The earth Dwellers will throw a party. The Devils Christmas. Why?

Their preaching troubled the sinners! Ill. The preaching of the Word brings

torment and conviction. It bugs people! People do not like to be faced with

their sin! People hate it now, they will definately hate it then!

C. v.11-12 The Vindication Of Their Ministry

1. They are raised from the dead.

2. God then reenacts the rapture. He shows a godless world what they missed!

(Ill. God will vindicate His people - Ill. Death and Resurrection!0

III. v.13-14 A TERRIBLE WOE

A. Earthquake - tenth part of Jerusalem falls

B. 7,000 notable men die - Ill. Seven number of perfection, God shows who is still

in control.

C. The remanant must admit that this is the work of God. (Ill. This will stick in

Antichrists craw!) (Ill. Jail house and death bed salvation!) The kind that will

save you and take you to Heaven is the kind that comes from conviction and

conversion.

D. The second woe is past, but a worse on is coming!