Revelation 10 & 11

EDGEMONT BIBLE CHURCH
FALL 2009- SPRING 2010
FEBRUARY 10, 2010
ADDITIONAL OCCURENCES FROM THE 6th TRUMPET- Part 5
REVELATION 10:1-1l AND 11:1-14
THE SEVENTH SEAL

G. The Sixth Trumpet sounds (Continued)…end of Ch 9 to 11:14 = 6th trumpet
God is long suffering, but… see Ps 50:22-23
ADDITIONAL ACTION: A mighty angel comes down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, a rainbow on his head, face like the sun and his feet like pillars of fire. With a little book in his hand he puts his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. He cries out an unreported statement, which is responded to by the seven thunders uttering another statement, which John is forbidden to record. He further raises his hands to heaven and swears by God that there is to be no further delay in the completion of the mystery of all God had prophesied He would do.

RESULT: John is to take the little book from the angel standing on earth and sea and eat it. Like Jeremiah and Ezekiel before him, the taste of the scroll is sweet but with John it turned bitter on his stomach.

EFFECT: He is commanded now to prophesy about many peoples, nations, tongues and kings.

DETAILS:
Examining the angel's appearance: He is said to be mighty. It should be noted this is not the appearance of Jesus but a mighty angel, even though some of the description recalls the vision of Jesus in Revelation 1. He has a glorious appearance, which makes him one of the higher ranked angels in the hierarchy. He looks like the sun coming out of the clouds after a great storm, as is revealed by the rainbow on his head. The rainbow was the symbol God gave for His people to recall His great mercy in the time of trouble. As his face is like the sun, we see that light is still to be seen even in the darkness. His feet are like strong columns of fire picturing the impending judgment of God's holiness. Identifying the Little Book: Attempts to identify this little book may be futile. Some have identified it as the same book in 5:1, the scroll taken by the Lamb, now opened. Since much of the content of that book has now been revealed the scroll would be much smaller now. But there would be no reason for him to eat it then since he has been revealing the rest of the scroll in the normal manner. It seems more reminiscent of the scroll that both Jeremiah and Ezekiel had both tasted before.(Jer 15:16; Eze 2:9-3:3) With all three men they were under persecution, they lived among rebellious people, they were bidden to eat God's Word as a symbol of their commissioning to proclaim and prophesy God's Word and when they had eaten it, it tasted sweet. This is a picture of assimilating God's Word completely. Only John reports that it turned bitter on his stomach. All three men were told they were to prophesy about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. The next message John is going to give is one of bringing the whole story of the end of earth as we now know it to a bitter end culminating in the return of the King to correct all things as God had intended. The message of Jesus' return is sweet to those who long for it but it is bitter to those who must experience His wrath! See Daniel (1st exile); Ezekiel (2nd exile)

SECOND ADDITIONAL ACTION: John is given a measuring rod to measure the rebuilt temple, the altar and those who worship there but not to measure the court of the Gentiles. He is told the holy city will be trampled underfoot of the Gentiles for 42 months. Two witnesses have been sent from God to testify to the whole world of the Messiah. They are headquartered in Jerusalem and have been given power to prophesy and back it up with deadly and damaging powers. Their ministry is for 42 months or 1,260 days. Their attire is of sack cloth, the clothing of prophets calling for repentance. The unbelieving world will be grieved and angered by their testimony and their deadly powers.

RESULT: Those seeking to harm these witnesses are killed by fire that proceeds out of their mouth. They have power to shut up heaven so that no rain falls; they have power over waters to turn them to blood; they have power to strike the earth with all plagues whenever they desire. When they have completed their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit, also identified as coming from the sea (is this a clue as to the location of the abyss or bottomless pit?), will war against them and kill them. Their dead bodies will lie on the ground in Jerusalem for the world to witness for 3 and 1/2 days, after which they will be resurrected and ascend to heaven (another rapture!). A great earthquake follows killing 7000 and destroying a tenth of the city.

EFFECT: Their ministry of a call to the world for repentance regarding the Messiah and the kingdom to come will be hated by those not believing it, but there is little they can do about it due to the power of these witnesses. These witnesses will bring great harm on their enemies. When the time God has allotted is finished, He permits them to be killed by the beast from the bottomless pit. People will then be happy for they assume their troubles are over. The resulting resurrection from the dead and ascension of these two witnesses will bring death to another 7,000 and fear leading to glory being given to God. DETAILS:
THE TWO WITNESSES: Who are they? The angel speaking to John tells him they are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands standing before God, here identified as the God of the earth. This appears to be a reference from one of the earlier prophets, Zechariah (Zech 4:1-14). All attempts to otherwise identify them are at best speculative. The time of their ministry is the first 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation. It may very well be that this is what gives the 144,000 such strong courage to evangelize the whole world. This I say because it is at the end of their ministry that the Anti-Christ kills them. This he will do when he is preparing to persecute believing Israel and the time at which he desecrates the temple, mid- tribulation. This is what allows the Gentiles to trample on the holy city for their 3 1/2 years and what preserves Israel for their 1,260 days (Rev 12:6,14).
THE BEAST 0UT OF THE ABYSS:
He is the same as the beast out of the sea of Revelation 13 and the beast out of the abyss Revelation 17:8-18.