The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11:1-4

SPEAKER 02 : 0:00

I’ve often said that if you see the temple under construction, if I were you, I’d pack my bags. The Lord’s coming. Because we are told in the Bible there’s going to be a temple in the tribulation period. It could be built before, by the way. It could be built now. We could see it all, and we Christians panicking, wondering if we missed the rapture. But the Bible actually never says that it will be built after the rapture. We just know that during the tribulation, that temple will be there. It could start to be built before the rapture easily.

SPEAKER 03 : 0:57

This is Hope for Today with Bible teacher David Hawking. Imagine this. Two men sent by God, standing in Jerusalem with power no one can challenge. They shut down the rain, they turn water into blood, they strike the earth with plagues, and no one can stop them until their mission is complete. But who are they? You know, names have been tossed around by Bible scholars for centuries. It could be Moses, Elijah. Even Enoch has been suggested. Yet you know something? The Bible never tells us their names because the real focus is their mission. They stand as witnesses proclaiming God’s truth in the midst of judgment. Well, today David Hawking begins a study called The Two Witnesses from Revelation chapter 11. And today we’ll focus on verses 1 through 4. Stay right there. First, a quick reminder about Meditations in the Psalms. This is our online daily devotional that you’ll find at davidhawking.org. It’s right there on the homepage. Each day you’ll be led into a psalm with insight and encouragement to strengthen your faith, calm your heart, and fill your mind with God’s Word. Listen, this is a simple way to stay grounded in truth and draw closer to the Lord day by day. Check it out, Meditations in the Psalms, on the homepage of davidhawking.org. Let’s get to our study. Here’s David with day one of The Two Witnesses in Revelation 11.

SPEAKER 02 : 2:36

Chapter 11, verse 1. There was given me a reed like a rod, and the angel stood saying, Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and them that worship in it. But the court… which is, we would say, outside, without the temple, leave out and measure it not, for it is given unto the heathen, or the nations, the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread underfoot forty and two months. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks or lampstands standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceeded out of their mouth and devour their enemies. That’s what I call a very effective ministry. And if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the peoples and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not allow or suffer or permit their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another.” because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them who saw them. And they heard a great or loud voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up here. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand, and the remnant were affrighted or terrified, and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past, and behold, the third woe cometh quickly. The last three trumpet judgments are called woe because of their seriousness. I’d like you to see about seven things, if you’re outlining or following us that way in an organized manner through these opening verses. And the first of which is kind of a surprise. It’s like startling. In fact, it causes Bible teachers to get confused and to have disagreeing viewpoints. And that is the measurement of the temple. The very fact of mentioning the temple. causes a great deal of consternation among those who study future events. The measurement of the temple, which is mentioned in verses 1 and 2. Now, the very fact that it’s called the temple of God is of great interest. The word temple is frequently used in the Bible in the King James 204 times. Interestingly, 117 of those are in the New Testament. You’d think it’d be the other way around. The word tabernacle, which was, of course, a structure that was used by God for worship before the temple was built, the word tabernacle appears 328 times and only 20 in the New Testament. But the temple of God only appears nine times in the New Testament. We have other terms referring to the temple like the house of the Lord. That’s used 234 times. Or the Lord’s house, another 21. The house of God, 81 more times. And it’s interesting when you just kind of take a quick trip, but I’ll do it for you so you don’t have to… do it yourself, but it is an interesting study. If you take a quick trip through these passages and ask yourself, to what does the temple of God refer? Because this is called the temple of God, and we’re supposed to measure it, and it’s in the tribulation period. And we all know there is no temple right now. And what does the temple of God refer to? And as I backed it up and took a quick look at that, it was kind of interesting. It actually refers to the tabernacle at Shiloh. Before the temple was ever built by Solomon or the funds were ever collected by King David, they had worship when they came into the land of Canaan, when they escaped out of Egypt and the wilderness wanderings. They brought their tabernacle and located it at Shiloh, which is north of Jerusalem. And it was there for many, many years. For instance, it was there at the time of Samuel. And that tabernacle, that tent, was actually called the Temple of the Lord or the Temple of God. It also, of course, refers to the temple of Solomon, but only until God’s glory departed from it, and then it’s not called the temple of God anymore. The glory of God departed from that temple and the Babylonian captivity destroyed it in 586 B.C. It’s also interesting to me that it does refer to Herod’s temple. Jews call that the second temple, the temple that was really reconstructed by Herod, that had its original roots in the return of Ezra and Nehemiah and Zerubbabel and Joshua. They came back to the land with various invasions of Jewish populations from the Persian Empire, who granted them permissions to come back. And they returned and they started reconstructing it. It wasn’t much of a project. And the old men who were just young children when the Babylonian invasion happened and the temple was destroyed, they remembered the beauty of Solomon and they said, this thing doesn’t even… come close to the glory of Solomon’s temple, but they at least put up a structure. And it was kind of, it went through a lot of different stages. And the Jewish people don’t really refer to that as the second temple. They refer to Herod’s reconstruction. He took 46 years in rebuilding it as to its past glory. Even then he didn’t come close to what Solomon had. But that was referred to as the second temple. And in the Bible, like in Matthew 21, 12, when Jesus cleansed the temple, it actually calls Herod’s temple the temple of God. So the tabernacle of Shiloh, the temple of Solomon, the temple of Herod, they are all called the temple of God. Another interesting thing that some of you realize in the New Testament is the bodies of believers. are referred to as the temple of God, the temple of the Lord. You can find that in 1 Corinthians 3, as well as 2 Corinthians 6, verse 16. Our bodies become the temple of the Lord. God’s presence, his Shekinah presence, through the person and work of the Holy Spirit, is now dwelling in our bodies. So this is now the temple. And we who are believers, our physical bodies have become the temple of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19. Now, when we go a step further and ask, are there any other usages of the temple of God or the temple of the Lord? The answer is yes. There is coming in the future during the 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ, we refer to as millennium, a Latin word for 1,000, the kingdom of our Lord on earth with Christ ruling and reigning in Jerusalem as king of the whole earth. There is going to be a brand new temple, and it’s described in the last nine chapters of the book of Ezekiel. And it is far different than the temples we’ve had before. Now, the Jews refer to that temple as the third temple. So when you read articles like in the Jerusalem Post about the temple, you’ll find the Orthodox segment of Judaism reacting very violently to all these plans of other Jewish people to rebuild the temple. Now, if you go to a Jewish synagogue, you will find that most of them are called temples. All of these names remind the Jews that they had a temple. And in the dispersion, which means since the Romans destroyed Herod’s temple in 70 AD, they were scattered all over the world. That’s called the dispersion, the diaspora, which, by the way, means to plant a seed. Kind of interesting that through persecution, God planted a seed through his people all over the world. But in that dispersion, and Peter wrote to the dispersion, they felt that the places where they met, synagogues, which means to gather together, these gathering togethers would become miniature symbolic temples to remind the Jews of the coming messianic hope when the Messiah will come and build literally the third temple in all of its glory described by Ezekiel. And so today, officially, the government has a problem. There are lots of people in Israel that want to build that temple. As a matter of fact, there’s a yeshiva in Jerusalem where they are making all of the utensils and vessels for the temple. Some of you have already been to there and have seen them. They are literally making all of those wonderful instruments for worship. They’re making them now. They’re preparing. There’s all kinds of discussions. You have temple worship taught in the schools in Israel. You have temple worship in great detail described at Hebrew University with courses in it. So they’re well on their way. They want a temple. But the problem is that the general area where they believe the temple should be, that is the location of the ancient Solomon and Herod’s temple, they’re not sure where the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place is. There are three major locations as to possibilities. But out of all these possibilities, we have, of course, our relationships with international neighbors and especially with Arabs and Muslims, and it is a very serious problem, very serious. Now, the Jewish Orthodox branch believes that the Messiah alone can build the third temple. By the way, I agree with them. I agree with them. I believe the Bible is clear that the Messiah is going to build that temple. You say, are you sure? Yes. Turn to Zechariah chapter 6. Zechariah chapter 6. It says in verse 12 and 13 in Zechariah chapter 6, Zechariah chapter 6 verse 12. Speak unto him saying, this is unto Joshua the high priest, we’ll mention him a little bit later in our study. Speak unto him saying, thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying, behold the man whose name is the branch. A messianic name found in Isaiah and Jeremiah, also here in Zechariah. A man whose name is the branch, and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Now that’s pretty clear, isn’t it? Even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and I love this, and he shall bear the glory. Now that’s new. The glory of the Lord came on the temple, but it’s saying that this one who’s called the branch, who’s going to build the temple of the Lord, he is going to bear all the glory himself. And we’re reminded in the book of Revelation that the lamb is all the glory. And it says he will sit and rule upon his throne. He’s not only a king, but he shall be a priest upon his throne. There’s an unusual description. And the council of peace shall be between them both. He will be our peace. And between king and priest, he’s going to handle it all. Jesus Christ, our Lord, King of kings and Lord of lords. So he’s going to build the temple of the Lord. Now come to Revelation chapter 11. Let’s take a look at our problem. Our problem is that the Messiah is going to come for his church, we believe, before the tribulation. He’s going to take the church age believers to heaven. Now at the end of the tribulation, the Messiah is going to come to the earth in what’s called the revelation. Before the tribulation, we call it the rapture. when we are caught up to meet other believers in the air. Those who have died in Christ and those who are alive and remain will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. But at the end of the tribulation, the Messiah will come to the earth. He will defeat all the nations of the world, the battle of Armageddon, and he will stand with his feet on Mount Olives and declare he is the victor and he will set up his kingdom. There’ll be giant topographical changes. The millennial temple will be built. You say, well, how long will it take him to build it? Well, look at God’s power, no sweat. Jesus can just say, hey, let there be temple, and bang, there’s the temple. He will not need to have any of us in a work crew or anything else. Well, the problem is, we’re talking the in-between time in the tribulation when God is pouring out His wrath on the earth, and all of a sudden we have this message to go measure the temple, the temple of God. This is a little hard to understand. One of the interesting things is that in Greek, there are two words for temple. One refers to the whole outer complex of the temple and all of its courtyards, and then there’s a special word that refers to the Holy of Holies. Interesting, it’s not the Holy of Holies. It’s the whole structure and compound. So apparently, somebody is going to build a temple in Jerusalem. I’ve often said that if you see the temple under construction, if I were you, I’d pack my bags, the Lord’s coming. Well, of course there’s a lot of interest in it, and of course they’re making plans for it, but it will be something when it starts. Because we are told in the Bible there’s going to be a temple in the tribulation period. As a matter of fact, Daniel in his prophecy in chapter 9, verse 27, spoke about sacrifices being reinstituted in a temple during the week or the period of seven in which a world leader is going to make a peace covenant with Israel to protect them from their hostile neighbors. A covenant that he will break. But they are literally going to restore temple sacrifices. A very fascinating part of this. Turn to Matthew chapter 24 and look at verse 15. The longer we go, the more we’re seeing the literal fulfillment of all of God’s prophecies. And that’s really an exciting thing to me. I don’t allegorize any of them. I think they’re coming to pass exactly like God said. And it’s very interesting. I am absolutely positive that they’re going to build a temple in Jerusalem. The plans are too widespread now. The project’s too far along. They’re going to do it somehow. Matthew chapter 24, verse 15. When Jesus projects into the future, to the tribulation period, look at what he says in verse 15. When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation. Now that’s referring to the person we know as the Antichrist. When you see him, the one spoken of by Daniel the prophet, that was in Daniel 9, stand, this person, standing in the what? Holy place. Whosoever read it, let him understand. Then get out of there. You know he’s going to break his covenant. Now turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and you can see that the Bible is consistent with itself on this issue. There will be a temple built in Jerusalem during the tribulation period, or could be built before, by the way. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 says, verse 1, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled. neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ or the day of the Lord is at hand or present. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come an apostasy of falling away first, that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalted himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the what? the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. So you see, during the tribulation, this Antichrist, this man of sin, this wicked one, is going to be revealed, whose coming is after the working of Satan, says verse 9. He’s going to go into the temple, and notice it’s a temple of God. That means that the temple is going to be dedicated to the worship of God by his people Israel. And that is where I get the argument that it is not going to be a temple for all peoples of the world or anything like that. It is going to be a reinstitution of temple worship as the Jews had it long ago. And they will dedicate it to the Lord. Really kind of a fascinating prospect, isn’t it?

SPEAKER 03 : 19:59

That’s David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David will be back in just a moment or so to close out our time in the Word. First, though, Matt’s here, and we want to tell you about a book by David that just may help you see the book of Zechariah in a whole new light.

SPEAKER 04 : 20:17

Matt?

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You may not know what you’re missing in the book of Zechariah until you open up our book, Visions of the Future, to reveal the powerful historical significance of Zechariah and to detail and explain its prophecies for the past, present, and future.

SPEAKER 04 : 20:33

Yeah, and Visions of the Future is our featured resource for August. It’s a dynamic study of Zechariah chapters 1 through 14. And Matt, let’s take a quick look inside. Jim, part one is titled The Eight Night Visions and reveals marvelous prophecies showing the role and ministry of the Messiah in his first coming and the future second advent that will mark the beginning of the messianic age and millennial reign of Christ. And your dad refers to Zechariah as the gospel of the Old Testament. Amen. Well, part two? Covering Zechariah 7 and 8 has four essential messages to God’s people on rebuke, repentance, restoration, and rejoicing.

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And then in part three, your dad investigates the prophecies given to Zechariah, revealing two burdens for the future, the rejection of the anointed king. and the return and reign of the king.

SPEAKER 04 : 21:25

And also in this section, we see teaching on the appearance of our Lord, judgment of Israel’s enemies, mourning for the one they pierced, cleansing from sin, the second coming, and more.

SPEAKER 03 : 21:35

Well, discover some outstanding treasures in Zechariah with David’s book, Visions of the Future, our featured resource for August. And Matt, how much is it? Just $15. You can purchase it at DavidHawking.org or when you call. And consider adding a donation to your order to help us continue this ministry or become a regular monthly supporter. And join with us in ministry. And please faithfully pray for hope for today. Yes, please do. Well, to get this powerful book by David, Visions of the Future, call 875-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Again, that’s 800-752-4253 in the U.S. and 888-752-4253 in Canada. And friend, if God is leading you to include a special donation, and that’s above and perhaps aside from any resource you might purchase, your donation matters. Every gift you send keeps us on the air, streaming online, putting free devotionals on our website, video messages streaming free in our media center, also Bible study materials that you can download from the homepage, putting those into the hands of people who need truth. That’s what your support does. It also helps train pastors, strengthen believers, and bring the gospel to people who may have never heard it otherwise. To send your gift by mail, write to Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. On our website, davidhawking.org, davidhawking.org. And here’s David to take us home.

SPEAKER 01 : 23:30

Well, I hope you’re enjoying our study. Let me read the verses again in Revelation 11. There was given me a reed like unto a rod, and the angel stood saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court, which is without the temple, leave out, measure it not. For it is given unto the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. And I’ll give power unto my two witnesses. They shall prophesy. a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. Wow. Well, that’s our study. We just got open today, and I hope you’re excited about it. The fact of the matter is, The temple of God will be built, but this is not the messianic temple that will be in the millennial kingdom. This is a temple that apparently Israel will build, and it is the temple into which the Antichrist will come and demand salvation. that he be worshipped. Well, there’s a lot of study to be done, and we’re told that the Gentiles are going to tread underfoot the holy city 40 and 2 months. Wow. Well, I hope you can be with us for every one of these broadcasts. We’ll see you next time.

SPEAKER 03 : 25:21

Well, thank you, David. And just before we go, a reminder that you can catch programs you may have missed for a limited time on our website, davidhawking.org. And if you’d like a copy of this series in Revelation for yourself for years to come, you can order it as an MP3 audio set. Now, that’s all 48 messages of our current series in Revelation, just $30 for the set on MP3 or on video DVD for $50. Every order, every donation helps us stay on the air and makes it possible for us to reach people around the world with the truth of God’s word. Well, next time is day two of this message on the two witnesses from Revelation chapter 11. You know, these men speak with God’s authority. They strike the earth with judgments, and yet their voices still offer hope through repentance. The world can’t stand them, but the world, it can’t stop them. We’ll have more of the study tomorrow on Hope for Today. Thank you.