We're going through the book of Revelation and we come to a very difficult section. It's a very wild section this morning about two unusual guys--two witnesses. Revelation chapter 11. I was led to Jesus Christ by what I would consider a faithful witness. His name was Billy Graham. But this was not a personal leading to Christ. I was watching him on television from my brother's apartment in San Jose, California. And he gave a very clear and compelling message. And he turns to the television cameras that he does at the end of every broadcast and he says, if you're watching by television, you can come. And I thought, he's talking to me. Because I was thinking right before that, I'm going to turn this guy off. And then he turns to the camera and it's like, oh, spooky. And I gave my life to Jesus Christ that afternoon in northern California. I grew in my faith from that point on and I remember the first time I tried to witness. I thought I was an absolute failure at it and I'm sure I was. I didn't know much. All I knew is that I was a Christian and that God loves people and so that's what I told people--God loves you. And the first time I witnessed, somebody asked me a question I couldn't answer. They asked me some philosophical, theological question and I looked at them and I said, I don't know. And I walked home and I thought, what a dork! I failed! But I learned the answer to that question so that next time it was asked I could answer it. That's the way you grow. A few years ago, I had an unusual opportunity to give a message in front of the one who led me to Christ. This was back in North Carolina at The Cove, The Billy Graham Training Center, and Billy said that he wanted to come that night. I was at his house for lunch and he said, I'm going to come hear you tonight. And I'm going, oh please, no. because my topic that night was evangelism. How to lead people to Christ. Now what's wrong with this picture? I, the one who gave my life to Christ under the world's greatest evangelist, and he comes to listen to me. And then they want me to give an invitation. And so, as I'm preaching all I can think about is I am telling people how to do what, in the back of the room, is the world's greatest evangelist, what I would consider one of the greatest witnesses has done.

One of the most amazing things with that in mind is after the rapture of the church, when the church is taken out of the earth, some of the greatest evangelism this world has ever seen will come to planet earth in the form of two witnesses who, it seems, preach the gospel from Jerusalem. Along with them, there are 144,000 Jewish converts. Along with them, there is an innumerable multitude of people from smatterings of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. Great evangelism will take place during the tribulation period and we're going to meet a couple of these witnesses today. The two witnesses in Revelation 11. Before we do, however, I want to be quick to say that witnessing isn't just something you do. Some people will say, well let's go witnessing tonight. That is, we'll open our mouths and tell people how to get saved. A witness is something you are, not just something you do. Jesus said to His disciples, you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. And when you combine somebody who has the right message with the right lifestyle, there's a powerful, powerful dynamic. And that's one of the reasons it's an honor to serve among you. Because so many of you are such good witnesses for Jesus Christ. I received a letter this week from a couple who attended an evening service and this woman wrote, "Dear Skip, Sunday evening my husband and I, both of whom are senior citizens, visited your church as we do from time to time. When we went to our car after church, we were dismayed to discover that we had a flat tire. I went into your church office where Mary Ann, a volunteer, graciously helped me in calling Triple A, offered me a seat while I was waiting for a long time to reach AAA, because of the president's visit AAA couldn't help us for about an hour or so. Mary Ann asked a couple of young men in the hall if they would change the flat tire for us. On our way to the car, another young man volunteered to help also. While the three young men were getting out tools and the spare tire, up drove a young mother with two children in her car. She hopped out with an emergency puncture can which the young men were able to use to pump the tire up quickly. The young woman would not let us pay her for the can. She had, oh, we're supposed to help other Christians. After the flat tire was blown up, one of the young men, Felix, insisted on following us home just to be sure we had no problems. Additionally, Mary Ann came out to our car just to make sure we were getting the help that we needed. We were deeply moved by the good Samaritans at your church and the love for Christ that they demonstrated by their deeds. Sincerely in Christ," and she signs her name.

I get lots of letters about you like this. And it's a thrill to see so many people turned on to be good witnesses for Jesus Christ. Well let's look at these two in chapter 11. We get in verses 1 through 14 an introduction to these guys. Verses 1 and 2 are the setting of their ministry, which is in Jerusalem, in Israel, it seems because of the temple. In verses 3 down to 6 are the significance of their ministry. Verses 7 through 10, the suppression of their ministry. And then finally, we'll look at the last few verses of our section which is where God takes, and it's the summit of their ministry after they rise from the dead. In verse one: "Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there." 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 underfoot for forty-two months." Or three-and-a-half years. The fact that there is a temple here suggests the city of Jerusalem. In fact, we don't have to guess. Over in verse 8 it says, "their dead bodies will lie in the street of that great city which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified," which is Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is an interesting city. I hope you get the chance to go sometime. If you don't get to now, you will one day in the future. Jerusalem, though there are bigger, more magnificent, grander cities on earth, there is no city that compares spiritually and historically to the city of Jerusalem. 46 times this city of peace, as the name means, has been siege, attacked, overcome. 5 times it has been laid low by fire, burned completely to the ground. Every time it rises from its ashes--it rebuilds. We have in these verses a temple. And the temple, as most of you know, is the very heart, it's the center of Judaism. It's the place that the Jews long to come and to worship God once a year. Solomon built the first temple. It's recorded in the Old Testament. David wanted to but he couldn't. so Solomon, his son, builds it but it gets destroyed by the Babylonians. But the Jews come back into their land and rebuild it. And then a guy by the name of Herod decides to expand it, to enlarge it, and to rebuild it for the Jews. At the time of Jesus Christ, that temple stood and one day Jesus is walking out of that structure with His disciples and they're gawking at the stones. Wow! Check this place out, Jesus! Look how big these stones are! And Jesus gives them a prediction. He says, you see all these things? Not one stone that you see will be left on each other. They will all be torn down. In 70 AD, the Roman Titus came and destroyed that city and so complete was the destruction that it's hard to find even traces of that temple standing today. In fact, there's only a remnant of that structure left. It's called the Wailing Wall or the Western Wall of the outer temple compound and Jews still flood to that area and they pray there because it's the closest they can get to the ancient temple.

John is writing this and seeing this vision in 95 AD. The temple has already been destroyed for 25 years. But in his vision of the future, he sees a temple and he's told to measure it. So this would lead us to believe that there will be a temple in Jerusalem in the future. Not only from this Scripture, Jesus talked about a future temple after this one would be destroyed. Daniel spoke about a future temple that a leader would build. In fact, Daniel says there will come a world leader who will make a peace treaty in the Middle East and allow the Jews to reestablish animal sacrifices and rebuild their temple. This is how Paul the apostle described it in 2 Thessalonians 2, this Antichrist: He opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. So obviously for this to happen, there has to be a temple, and that's what John sees in this vision. Now we have a problem. The problem is that the Jews have been unable to build the temple because they haven't had sovereignty of Jerusalem until June of 1967. And after the Six Day War, they finally reclaimed sovereign control of the city of Jerusalem. Up until that time, they haven't had it since 70 AD. Now they control it. And since that time Jews all over the world have talked about the idea of rebuilding a temple on that site. In fact, if you go with us to Israel we'll let you see what's called the Temple Institute where there are devoted rabbis and their students. They are training young men in the priesthood for animal sacrifices because they believe there will be a rebuilding of the temple in their generation. Time Magazine had an article about it. It said, "Tradition holds that God's biblical command to build a temple is irrevocable and the Jerusalem Talmud says that the Jews may construct an intermediate edifice before the Messiah comes. A 1983 newspaper poll showed that a surprising 18.3% of Israelis thought it was time to rebuild. A mere 3% wanted to wait for the Messiah. Several small organizations in Jerusalem believe the question is settled. They are zealously making preparations for the new temple in spite of the doctrinal obstacles and the certainty of provoking Muslim fury. Two Talmudic schools located near the Western, or the Wailing, Wall are teaching 200 students the elaborate details of temple service. Other groups are researching the family lines of the Jewish priests, who alone may conduct sacrifices. Next year, an organizing convention will be held for those who believe themselves to be of priestly descent." Well the Antichrist is going to seize this opportunity of those desires to build the temple and he will help them rebuild it. But like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he'll make a peace treaty with them and after 3 ½ years, he'll break it and he'll say, I'm God, worship me, and the temple will become desecrated.

Well there's another problem with this idea of a temple. On the spot where some believe the temple stood is this structure called the Dome of the Rock, the third holiest site for the Muslims. The Muslims believe the prophet Mohammed ascended up into heaven from that rock, received the Koran, and came back to the earth and gave it to man. So to say, hey guys, we'd like you to move your Dome so we can build a temple, won't go over very well aside from World War III. There are scholars who believe that the temple didn't stand there. In fact, Asher Kaufman who has researched this extensively, professor of physics at the Hebrew University says he believes, by the evidence of archeology, that the temple originally stood about 26 meters to the north. It lines up with the East Gate and, if that is true, then the temple could be built on that spot leaving the Dome of the Rock outside the temple compound. In fact, what would be in the ancient times, the court of the Gentiles, it was called. Why do you bring that up, Skip? Because verse 2 he is called to measure this thing 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 underfoot for forty-two months." Question: why the measurement? I mean, it's one thing to see a vision but John has to get involved in his vision. Here, here's a measuring stick--measure this thing. What does that mean? Well there are a few times in the Bible where a temple is measured. In Ezekiel chapter 40, the future temple in the millennium is told to be measured. In Zechariah, he is called to measure the temple. In Revelation chapter 20, the city of Jerusalem is measured. It seems that measurement speaks of ownership and evaluation. If you buy a home you say, what's the square footage? And they give you the square footage, but somebody has to go out there and measure it to make sure it is what they advertise. And then you always want to do a walk-through. You don't say, yeah I want a house that has that many square feet, I'll take it. You want to check it out, walk through it, and see if it measures up to your evaluation. So it's like God is looking at this future temple and appraising it but He finds that it becomes desolate and apostate because of this abomination of desolation that Daniel spoke about and Jesus spoke about and we'll read more of later on.

But notice something else. "Rise and measure," verse 1, "the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there." That's interesting. I don't think the idea is here, let me find out how tall you are as you enter, how wide you are as you enter. I think the idea is God measures the worship of man. God observes the worship of man. How do you measure up in worship? You know Jesus said to the seven churches in the book of Revelation, to each one of them, I know your works. It's as if He peruses every aisle, every seat, and sees every heart and He knows who's here, He knows why we're here, He knows why we live and why we do what we do. Do you remember Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. Mark says that Jesus went into the temple one day and He observed how people were putting money into the treasure. And He saw that people were being ostentatious about it, they wanted notoriety, they wanted people to notice them. others were very quiet about it. In fact, a widow came and came two mites, two little coins. But what's striking to me is there's Jesus, going to church, just watching. Ever been to a mall and just watched people? Some cruise and just kind of meander and others, they have a mission in mind. Search and destroy. And they know where they're going. But it's funny to watch people in public places. Here is Jesus observing the worship of people in the temple. Now we must realize that God is always our observer. He sees everything. One time a sculptor was working on one of his statues and an observer came by and he said, why do you spend so much time and detail on those parts of the body that nobody's really going to look at? And the sculptor said, the gods will see. Well God sees everything. God is in our audience today. In fact, God is our audience today. We are not the audience. You are not the audience. God is. This church is not on trial--we are as His people. You are as those who come. God observes; He watches.

And more than that He watches the attitudes not just the actions. Let's see how these people entering the temple measure up when they come. Here's a widow with two mites and a couple little coins. Jesus noticed she gave more than everybody else because she gave out of what she didn't have. They had so much. I heard a story of a mission meeting that was in a church one evening and the moderator had a list of all of the contributors to foreign missions and it was a typical thing of let's read the names of the donors so we can clap for them and give them their reward now. And so they read off a name, so-and-so gave $1,000--everybody cheered. And Miss So-and-So gave $100 and people cheered and they went down the list till they got to one person, Mr. So-and-So gave $1.00. nobody clapped. And the moderator sensed that was a problem, that this guy probably gave all that he could, but he didn't receive applause because the people were thinking in terms of numbers and so the moderator said, "Ssh. I think I hear the clapping of the pierced hands." God notices. It's important to Him. and those who enter the temple are measured.

Well that's the setting of their ministry, the temple in Jerusalem. Let's look at verse 3, the significance of their ministry: "And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. 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. 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 with all plagues, as often as they desire." What's significant about these guys is what they do. Notice they prophesy and they have power. That is, they declare God's words, they display God's works. They've got a lot of power. And there's a timetable. It says in verse 3, "one thousand two hundred and sixty days," that is 3 ½ years using thirty day months, which is the prophetic calendar. So you got a temple 42 months, 3 ½ years, you got two guys witnessing for 3 ½ years during that period. The tribulation period. Now who are these guys? They're odd, whoever they are. They're different kind of witnesses. They don't take any flack from anyone. And they have great power even as they prophesy. Now some people have looked at this and it's such a mind-boggling portion of Scripture they say, well this can't be real people. this must represent some great future movements. I don't think so. Because over and over again it talks about their dead bodies lying in the streets. And only people have dead bodies and you can try to allegorize that but then you mess it all up and it could be anything. I think it's best to take it as two literal prophets, witnesses who will come in the end times during the last 3 ½ years, the great tribulation period, who will be witnesses for God in Jerusalem.

Now to help our understanding of these guys, verse 4 is written: "These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth." You say, I'm not helped. That doesn't really take me very far in determining who they are. What does it mean they're the two olive trees and the lampstands? Well, a student of the Old Testament would understand this immediately. There's a vision that Zechariah got of very similar things. He saw two olive trees and in his vision, now get this, there are two olive trees and from the olive trees are pipes that come out into a receptacle, sort of a collecting jar where oil was collected and then other pipes came down and fed the lampstand, the menorah, where oil burned to keep a light in the tabernacle. It was like an automated menorah. Oil came automatically, without crushing olives from these trees, and it supplied the light for this lampstand. And then right after that God explains the vision. He says, not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. And He explains that everything you've wanted to do in coming back to the land, Zechariah, and Zerubbabel, and Joshua the high priest, will be accomplished. You will build this city, you will build the temple, but it will be not done by human strength but I will empower two witnesses, He says, which happened to be at that time a guy named Joshua, the high priest, and the governor of Jerusalem, Zerubabbel. I will empower them supernaturally so they can carry on My ministry and the job will get done. Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord. Well using that as our background, whoever these two guys are, are witnesses for God filled with the Holy Spirit, supernaturally enabled to carry on their ministry. That's the idea behind these verses.

By the way, the fact that they're here is an indication of the grace of God. You know so many people worry what if people go into the great tribulation that I know? They refuse Christ now; they'll never have a chance to get saved! That is not true. God will send 144,000 witnesses. God will send an angel flying through heaven just so people don't mistake whose gospel it is and He will send two witnesses that have a worldwide ministry. You say how do you know it's worldwide? Verse 9: "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." Obviously if the world is watching their death, they have been impacted by their life for this to make world news as it does here. Now what is, again, striking to me is you've got two guys, two dudes, filled with the Holy Spirit who for three-and-a-half years in the midst of a world who hates God are faithful witnesses and they don't compromise and they never give up. Until it's their time to go. Think what can be done if any one of us decides to be filled with God's Holy Spirit and move out in our generation and stand up for the truth. If two can do this and if twelve disciples could get the gospel out to the known world at that time, what could we do? John Wesley said this, "Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God and I don't care if they're a clergyman or a layman, such alone would shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of God upon the earth." Imagine 100 people who hate sin and love God and are consumed with Him. Wow! If two witnesses can do this.

Ok, again the question, who are they? Answer: I don't know. We don't know for sure. You can't be dogmatic but I have a hunch, it's my opinion, and it happens to be the opinion of most commentators and scholars in Revelation. It could be that these two guys are Moses and Elijah come back. You say now that is weird. That's so far-fetched. Why would I say that? For four reasons. Number one, past history. Look at the works they do. These two witnesses sound very similar to the works done by Moses and Elijah. Elijah called fire down from heaven when King Ahaziah came to arrest Elijah and sent fifty troops to arrest one guy. They came and stood outside of his dwelling and said, Man of God come with us! And Elijah said if I'm a man of God then let fire come down from heaven and destroy you. Zoom--they were zapped instantly! Elijah had the power to declare that it would not rain for three years and it did not rain. Moses had the power to turn the waters of the Nile into blood. And the signs sound very, very similar to what the two witnesses do. There's a second reason and it's prophecy. The last prophet of the Old Testament, Malachi, predicted that Elijah would come before the great and terrible Day of the Lord, the notable Day of the Lord. He would come as a witness to the nation of Israel. And besides that, the Jews historically believe that Moses would come before the Messiah comes. Because in Deuteronomy 18, Moses said another prophet will come like unto me, Him you shall hear. And a lot of Jews inferred that would be Moses again. Do you remember what they asked John the Baptist when he was preaching? They came to him and the Jews said, are you Elijah? He said no. they said, are you that Prophet? He said no. I'm neither of them. But there was that expectation because of prophecy. There's a third reason and that is precedence--New Testament precedence has been set. Moses and Elijah have done this before, you know. You've read the Gospels, right? And one day Jesus went up on a high mountain and He was transfigured in glory and Peter, James, and John were gawking at this. Wow! He was transfigured in glory and who was with Him? Moses and Elijah, the Scripture says. And they were talking about the future, the future kingdom, the things that would happen in Jerusalem. And Peter says, look, it's Moses and Elijah! So they've already done it once. There's a fourth reason I call it their passing. Both left this world in an unusual way, right? Elijah never died. He was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire, the Scripture says. And Moses, though he died, we never know what happened to his body except there was an argument about his body. Jude tells us, in Jude verse 9, Michael the archangel in contending with the devil when he disputed about the body of Moses. Why all the argument over a dead body unless God wanted to retain that body in the future for His own purpose?

Now think of it for just a moment. What two guys would have more of an impact on the Jewish nation than Moses, who represents the Law, and Elijah, seen as the greatest prophet? The Law and the Prophets testifying as they did on the Mount of Transfiguration about Jesus Christ. That's a dramatic impact. Maybe it's just two guys that sound like them but it could be them, indeed. Verse 5: "And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies." That's a frightening possibility. You've heard of bad breath. This is deadly breath. Can you imagine the news cameras following these guys around and somebody comes up with a bullet and the prophet just breathes out? Wiped out. They have the power to shut up heaven. No rain falls in the days of their prophecy. Power over the waters to turn them to blood, to strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire. Now we come to the suppression of their ministry. These are powerful guys but, verse 7: "When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit," this is the first mention now of the beast in Revelation, this is the Antichrist. You'll see him mentioned 36 more times in this book. He comes up to destroy; he "will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 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. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth." These guys are in-your-face prophets.

For three-and-a-half years they will be interpreting for the world all of the cataclysms, the destruction, the hordes of demons out of the abyss, the heavens falling seemingly, the sea being destroyed. They will be interpreting this for people. They will be saying, this is God's judgment on wicked people, on wickedness. And do you think anybody's going to like to hear that message? Listen, people will not be going up to them wanting to shake their hand saying, nice message, reverend! They'll hate them. They'll want to destroy them. They will think how can we get rid of these guys? And one day their wish will be granted as the beast, the Antichrist, will make war against them and destroy them. But I want to draw your attention to a very, very important phrase that should bring great comfort to you. It says when they finish their testimony. You see they couldn't die until God was done with them on the earth. Well once they finished their testimony, ok, this is what I wanted them to perform now times up. I believe, likewise, a child of God doing the work of God in the will of God is invincible--until God is done. I don't believe in untimely deaths for a Christian. When God's done, it's over. And you know what? When God's done, who wants to stay anyway? Knowing what we have... no, no please, I'd rather just stay on earth. I love these taxes and I love the tribulation of the earth--this is great. Hey, when it's over, great. Let's go for it and get off into the kingdom. Now have you ever had a brush with death, maybe a close accident, and you go, wow, an inch closer and I'd have been toast. But then afterwards you stopped to evaluate your life. Hey maybe God has a purpose for me living. That's how we ought to think. The other day I walked into a store and walked out with a salesman and my friend had been witnessing to him and he'd recognized my name and he said, you know, years ago I was in Youth for Christ. I said, well, great, what are you doing with it now? Are you an adult for Christ? He goes, well no I'm not doing anything. In fact, I haven't been to church in a long time, he said, but this last month I just had a sixth vessel bypass. That's as many as you can do, on my heart, they said another week you'd have been dead. I can't help but think that God spared my life and, of course, the follow-up question is why did He? And what are you doing about it? The apostle Paul said to those Ephesian elders in Acts 20, I want to be able to say I have finished my course with joy. At the end of his life, he said that. I've fought the fight. I finished the race. I've done what God wanted me to do. Now it's time to go for glory. And so when they finished their testimony they go home. Now in verse 9 it says, this is wild, "Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days." How on earth will all of the world be able to see one event at the same time? Well now it's obvious to us. Satellite television. It's like this is old hat, Skip. But do you realize before thirty years ago this Scripture was scoffed at. How could anybody all over the world at the same time see one event? They couldn't. But they can now. CNN will be there. ABC, NBC, all the networks. And they won't even bury these guys, it says. In fact, they're giving presents to each other because they're dead. This is like a Satanic Christmas. This is like Operation Tribulation Child. They're excited because these preachers of the truth are dead. They give gifts to each other. Hey! Here's your present! Happy Dead Witnesses Day! Oh thank you so much, it's what I've always wanted! Mark this. This is the only rejoicing in the entire tribulation period. And what are they angry about? They've had cataclysm after cataclysm after destruction after destruction but they're happy because the two preachers of the truth are finally dead. Get these right-wing fanatics out of here! They're finally dead. Yes--party on, dude. And they do it for days. They do it for days.

A righteous person is always a torment to a wicked person. He doesn't have to be obnoxious. He just has to love God and be righteous. In the world, you will have tribulation, the Bible says. A righteous person living in the light shines that light upon that person living in darkness and makes that person feel awfully agitated. So that person thinks what can I do to get this person out of my hair, out of my life? I've shared with you before the newspaper article where they polled Americans and they said, think of all the people in America you could have as your neighbors. What people do you least want living next to you? The highest percentage was fundamentalist Christians. We are seen as the roadblock to progress and tolerance. Even Dr. Death himself, Jack Kevorkian, the guru of physician-assisted suicide said the religious right is to blame for hindering our freedom. Well let's close it off here with the sanction of their ministry or the summit of their ministry in verses 11 through 13. Now please picture the scene. You've got to really picture it to get the impact. "Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet," I love the way the Bible understates truth, "and great fear fell on those who saw them," you betcha. "And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them." this is a personal two man rapture. "In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly."

Now picture that, CNN or ABC news reporter, the camera's there, these guys have been out decaying for three days, nobody's burying them. Here we are at CNN! We're so excited to see these guys still dead! I mean they're just filming this all around the world. The guy's got the microphone and I picture some guy watching maybe Monday Night Football, sitting on the couch, chugging his beer, eating his chips, and he's watching this. He's watching football but all of a sudden it says, 'We interrupt this from a special report from Jerusalem. These prophets that are dead are lying over here,' and suddenly the reporter goes, 'And they're getting up! They're alive!' Think of the fear and the dread as a resurrection would take place. And then they just get up and they rise into heaven. Now you say wait a minute. Wouldn't now be the time for them to preach the gospel? They've seen a resurrection in their midst. Three-and-a-half days dead, that's pretty substantiated when you see a resurrection. Well after seeing such a miracle that would be the time to stand up now and preach. You'd probably have a great altar call, right? Well not according to Jesus. Jesus Christ said in Luke 16, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead. The signs and wonder people say, no, signs and wonders make the gospel believable. No they don't. The Holy Spirit makes it believable. And they just get up and they go into heaven. Their ministry is over.

They are caught up into heaven but I want to kind of end on this note. While they were on earth what were they? Witnesses. They were faithful witnesses. God calls them My two witnesses. And that's the way to live, right? Isn't the way to live to live as God's witness so that you don't get to the end of your life and be an old, regretting person? So that you don't have to look back and said, I wish I wouldn't have wasted my life? I wasted my time on so much other stuff that didn't matter. It's better to instead of waste your life, invest your life in something that will outlive it and be a witness. Jesus, before He left, said you shall be My witnesses. What an awesome prospect. But did you know that 95% of the Christian church in America has never once led another person to Christ? And when they asked them why, most of them, 43% said, because I tried it once and it backfired and I'm scared after the first attempt. 20% just said I'm flat scared of people. and that's understandable. It's hard to do anything in your own strength. But being filled with the Holy Spirit of God as the oil flows into your life what you can do. What you can do. I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength. Somebody once said the church is the only society on earth that exists for the benefit of non-members. This isn't a bless-me club! This is a place where we get fed and we go out and share. Yeah we do get edified, we do worship, but then we get equipped to go share and it's interesting, this book of Revelation is at the end of the New Testament. It's the final book. It's the capstone. It's as if God is giving us the opportunity to hear all of the stuff that will unfold so that we can warn people and be His witnesses. You say well that's the evangelist's job. That's Billy's job--and others who have stadium evangelism. Do you realize that if you could fill a stadium full of people every night of the week, every week of the year, for 35 years, imagine, that's a long crusade, 35 years straight every night, having 35,000 different people a night and at the altar call have 1,000 decisions for Christ. If you could do that, at the end of those 35 years you would be further behind the task of world evangelism than the day you started because the population of the earth is growing so exponentially there would be much more born into the world who don't know Christ at that time. But here's the good news. If you were the only Christian on earth and there were no others and you said God, fill me with Your Spirit to lead one other person to Christ in this year, just one year, and if in 12 months you led one other person to Christ, so now there are two and you both prayed and evangelized and led another person to Christ so that in year two, you'd have four Christians and those four decided to win another person so in year three, you'd have eight. In a half a century the world would be won to Christ. The world would be won to Christ. You are witnesses unto Jesus. And so am I. what a great prospect before this time of the end comes.