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Then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified and made white and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. The title of the sermon this evening is Obscure Characters in the Book of Revelation. Obscure characters in the Book of Revelation. Now turn with me, if you would, to Revelation chapter 22, if you would. Revelation chapter 22. I'm going to read to you from Revelation chapter 1, where it says here, The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must surely come to pass, and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Jesus is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. Now in Daniel chapter number 12, obviously we understand that God had given to Daniel a lot of biblical revelation that he didn't quite understand. There's a lot of things that had to do with end times Bible prophecy. A lot of important events that took place in Daniel's time that would help him to understand the things that he was talking about, but he didn't really have a full understanding of the events that were going to take place in the book of Revelation. Now it even says in Daniel chapter 12 that he's to seal it up and close it up until the time of the end. He's like, what do these things mean? And he couldn't get the meaning of the prophecy that was given to him, because it was not for him to understand at that time. Now in the book of Revelation, however, we see that it is revealed, right? Now look at Revelation 22 verse 8, it says, And I, John, saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God. And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. So now we see the opposite of that, don't we? We see to Daniel who said, hey, seal it up, close it up, it's not for you to understand. But now we see Revelation 22 speaking to John, hey, don't seal it up, it's time to reveal the things that are taking place. Now let me start off by saying that we can understand the book of Revelation. We can understand it, and the book of Revelation doesn't have to be an obscure book, okay? Now obviously there are certain characters or certain events that are a little obscure, or God doesn't share a whole lot of details in regards to the events that take place, but for the most part we can understand it. We compare scripture with scripture. We compare the right type of books in the Bible with what's taking place in the book of Revelation, we can have a full understanding of what's taking place. Now it can be understood plainly, but you know there's a lot of people that actually shy away from the book of Revelation because they don't understand it. You know, specifically the pre-tribulation crowd. I remember when I was pre-tribulation, when I had that, when I believed in that doctrine, you know, I really stayed, I stayed away from the book of Revelation, I stayed away from the book of Daniel, the latter end of it. Why? Because it was difficult for me to understand because I was trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Now you can understand it if you look through it through the right type of lens, through the right type of doctrinal lens. Now I would liken it unto a camera, okay, if I'm trying to view a specific object or take a picture of a specific object to get an image of something, first of all I want a good camera to do it, amen? And what would we liken the camera unto? Well, the King James Bible. So a lot of reasons why people can't understand Bible prophecies is because they're not using the King James Bible. They don't have the true word of God. They have all these other modern versions of the Bible that say all kinds of other things that are prepping them and conditioning them for the new world order. Whereas the King James Bible is the word of God and we can gain understanding because of it. But not only that, we want to look through it through the right type of lens, okay, through the right type of doctrine, so to speak. Because people have the King James Bible, but if they have these preconceived ideas such as the pre-tribulation rapture, such as the Jews or God's chosen people and all these other false doctrines, it doesn't matter if they have the right camera, if they don't have the right lens, they're not going to see anything. This doesn't function well without this. Now here's the thing, another way to explain this is let's say I have the right type of doctrine. You know, we're saved, that's the right type of doctrine. The King James Bible, that's the right type of camera, but if I look through and I can't see anything, you know, 90% of the time when I'm trying to take a picture of someone and I look through, I'm like, man, why can't I see anything? It's because there's a lens cap. I'm serious. Sometimes I'm like, what in the world, is my camera, is it on? It's like, is the battery working? There's nothing wrong with the camera. Take the lens off, stupid. You know? What's the problem? Something is obscuring the view. So it's not the lens, it's not the camera, it's not the fact that you're not saved, it's not the fact that you don't have the right Bible, it's the fact that you have these preconceived ideas that is obscuring your view of eschatology and end times Bible prophecy. And the biggest elephant in the room when it comes to this is the pre-tribulation rapture. That affects the entire scope of the book of Revelation. Now once we remove that though, everything is just crystal clear for the most part. There are obscure areas in the book of Revelation, but none of the obscurities that we see in the book of Revelation that we can't understand will affect major doctrines. They're more so things like, you know, things that are fun to play with in a sense, you know, like to speculate what they mean, what they are, but they don't really affect major doctrines such as the rapture, okay? Now so a way to understand the book of Revelation, first and foremost, is understanding the chronology of the book of Revelation, okay? What do I mean by chronology? What are the events that take place and where do they take place in the book of Revelation? Now I'm just gonna give you a brief overview. This is not the sermon, but I'm just gonna give you a brief overview of the book of Revelation. Don't be afraid to read it. Don't be afraid to study it. It's a wonderful book in the Bible that you can read, that you can study, that you can understand. Now this is the chronology of the book of Revelation. It's broken up into two parts. You have chapters 1 through 11, which is the first section. Chapter 12 all the way to chapter 18 you find, in chapter 18 you find the fall of Babylon. Chapter 19 you have the millennial reign and then thereafter you have the new heaven and the new earth. Now both sections highlight the same thing, but they talk about different perspectives of the events that are taking place in those chapters. Now a way to understand completely what the book of Revelation is, you have to understand the seven-year period that is highlighted within the book of Revelation. I'm excluding the millennial reign and the new heaven and the new earth. But there's a seven-year period that both sides, both pre-tribulation and post-trib and anything in between can understand, hey, there's seven years found within this book that the Bible constantly talks about, because you see these months coming up, these days coming up, they equal to seven, a literal seven years. Now what is the difference? Well, you have this erroneous doctrine that teaches that all seven years equal to an entire tribulation period. So the entire seven years, according to the pre-tribulation crowd, they state is tribulation. They'll say that the rapture takes place in Revelation chapter four, and then thereafter you have the tribulation period and the wrath of God, but we're not there during that time because Jesus Christ, you know, he has a secret rapture that no one ever sees. But that's not what the Bible teaches, and we understand that, but I'm basically giving an overview and just kind of hashing out again what we believe in regards to this doctrine. Now when does the tribulation start? Well, according to the Bible, it starts at the first seal, okay? It ends at the sixth seal, but there are seven seals. So you have the tribulation beginning at the first seal, you have it ending at the sixth seal. What's the sixth seal? The sixth seal is the sun and moon being darkened, it's the day of the Lord, it's the rapture, and then you roll into the seventh seal, which is the introduction to the wrath of God. What is the wrath of God? Well, it's characterized by the seven trumpets and seven vials, okay, very important. After the seventh, there's four trumpets and four vials, after that you have the fifth one that highlights the first woe, the sixth one the second woe, and the seventh one, which is the third woe. At that point, that is the final wrath of God, that is the final judgment that God pours on his earth in regards to the wrath of God. At the same time that that takes place, you have the distribution of the rewards and the millennial reign being set up during that time, okay? And of course, you have the fall of Babylon in that, in Revelation chapter 18. So if you didn't catch that, don't worry about it, listen to it later or go listen to the Revelation series or after the tribulation, you'll get it. But it is important to understand this, okay, and understand the chronology of it. Now in the midst of this, these seven years, the pre-tribulation crowd would actually call it the time of Jacob's trouble, right there, Jacob, okay? The time of Jacob's, this is your trouble, the time of Jacob's trouble, but a more biblical term to use would actually be Daniel's 70th week. And the only reason it's called Daniel's 70th week is because in Daniel chapter nine it highlights 69 weeks, therefore leaving out one week, referring to that seven year period that we can find in the book of Revelation, okay? So that's Daniel's 70th week, in the midst of the week, if you were to break it in half in the midst of the week, you have the, what's called the abomination of desolation. That marker is very important to note. You have 1,335 days from the first seal up until the seventh seal, 75 days prior to the seventh seal, you have the abomination of desolation being set up. What happens at that time? Well the fifth seal is open, martyrdom is being taken place, Christians are being put to death, and then you have 75 days of great tribulation, okay? When those days are over, then you have the sun and moon being darkened, we get raptured, seventh seal is open, the wrath of God is poured out on the earth, okay? Now if this is just going over your head, just go to sleep, or go to sleep with your eyes open, okay? You can review it afterwards. You say, is this all really that important? Yeah, it is important just to know, just in general, obviously the chronology of what's taking place, but it's important because of what the characters actually were gonna refer to tonight, okay? Now go with me if you want to Revelation chapter seven. Revelation chapter seven. So why is knowing the marker of the abomination of desolation important? Because it's actually during that time that we're gonna see these two characters actually come into play, come on the scene, and when I refer to the two characters, one of them is 144,000, and the other characters that I'm referring to are the two witnesses. Those are the two characters we're gonna look at tonight, okay? The 144,000 and the two witnesses, but we're gonna look at first the 144,000. Now if you've done any sowing for any length of time and you've talked to any Jehovah's Witness, you've probably heard of the 144,000 at least once, okay? And let me just give you a tip. When you talk to a Jehovah's Witness, don't ever ask them, are you 100% sure that if you die today, you go to heaven? Because they're like, no, only the 144,000 are gonna go to heaven, you know? It's like, well, don't you want to be a part of that, though? You know, they want to inherit the earth, they don't think they're even worthy enough to enter into heaven or to be a part of that 144,000. Now what I typically do when I talk to a Jehovah's Witness, especially if it's a woman, I'll tell them, hey, did you know that there's like no women within the 144,000? And they're like, what? You know, yeah, like they're completely anti-women in that group of people. So they think from the time that their religion started up until now, there's only 144,000 that are gonna go to heaven. And obviously, that's a stupid doctrine, okay? That is a foolish doctrine to believe that only 144,000 are gonna go to heaven and the rest of everyone who adhered to the Jehovah's Witness doctrine is gonna stay on this earth, okay? But the reason they believe it is because they're blinded. The reason they believe it is because they got a false Bible, you know, and they've been conditioned to believe that. But another stupid doctrine that people believe in regards to the 144,000 is they'll say, well, this, the 144,000 are like Jews. When the rapture takes place, they get saved. You know, because they see Jesus Christ, oh, man, we missed it. You know, and then they get saved and they're like, whoa, hey, that was the Messiah, we're gonna preach to the... And literally, there's this old, old, old, old, old as dust preacher, Zionist preacher, what's his name, Sarah? You know who I'm talking about. The guy, the Zionist guy. The guy who's all about the Jews. Who? No. The other one from Texas, oh, no, from Oklahoma. Commercial break here. I wanna know this name. Vineyard. Did he die already? Okay. Well. Vineyard. Now, this guy literally believed, like, he was part of the military and he would go to Israel, like, frequently with pizzas and Bibles because he believed that the soldiers, the Israeli soldiers, were the 144,000. You know, once we look at the description of these Israelites, right, you know, they're all virgin, and I'm sure all those soldiers over there are virgin, too, right, psych, you know, but he literally believed that all these Jews, these Christ-rejecting Jews were gonna be a part of the 144,000, you know, but this is the kind of foolishness that comes out of the mouth of Zionists, where they don't go to the Bible to see if that's true, they just completely believe it because, oh, the Jews are wonderful, they're God's chosen people. It doesn't say they're Jews. It says they're Israelites, and in fact, you only have 11 tribes. You have 11 tribes out of the 12 who are in the 144,000. The tribe of Dan is missing. Now, look at Revelation chapter 7 in verse number 1. Look what it says here, and after these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God, and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to her, the earth, and the sea. Now, what do we see here? We see the angel who has the seventh seal, and remember what I said. The tribulation is from the first seal up until what? The sixth. At the seventh is when the wrath of God is poured out. So this angel has that seventh seal, but he's not yet opening it up, he's not gonna pour it out as of yet. Why is that? Well, look at verse 3. Saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed, and they were sealed in 144,000 of all tribes of the children of Israel. And then from verses 5 up until verse number 8, you see all of them, the 12,000 of each tribe from 11 tribes, excluding the tribe of Dan. But in verse number 9, we see the rapture. It says, after this, I beheld and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. So Revelation chapter 7 is like this chapter where we find like an intercession of events that are taking place in heaven, because these are the people who are actually being raptured. So we see the 144,000 being sealed in their foreheads before the seventh seal is open, and then automatically in verse number 9, we go into the rapture, okay? Now what can we take away from this portion of scripture? Well, number 1, the 144,000 are sealed in their foreheads before the seventh seal. They are also made up of 12,000 of the 11 tribes of Israel, not including Dan, and then the rapture taking place thereafter. Now go to Revelation chapter 14. Revelation chapter 14. And here's the foolishness of this, is that literally people will believe that these are all Jews. And that just shows you the shallowness of their understanding of just, Bible. You know, they just slap the term, the label Jew on anything that's from Israel or, you know, it's just like, that's from the tribe of Judah. Anybody who's a Jew is from the tribe of Judah. And in fact, it includes two other tribes, because that southern kingdom is not just comprised of those from Judah, it's comprised of two other tribes. Now look at Revelation 14, verse number 1. By the way, Revelation 14 and 15 is actually where we find the second half of that chronology we're referring to, and it's actually where we find the second time it talks about the rapture, okay? It gives a little more details in regards to that, and then the wrath takes place in chapter 16. Look at verse number 1, it says, and I looked and lo, a lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with them 144,000, having his father's name written in their foreheads. So remember, now we're repeating the story again, and we're repeating the story of the 144,000, but this time it's actually from a different perspective, and it's actually given us a little more detail. What is the detail that it's given us? Well, it's given us the fact that the lamb stood on Mount Zion, and who was with him? The 144,000, having his father's name written in their foreheads. Now, Mount Zion's not referring to Jerusalem, which now is, which people like to say that they'll go to Revelation 14, because they can't deny that this is the 144,000, but they'll say, well, you know, Mount Zion's referring to Jerusalem, which now is. No, it's not, because Hebrews chapter 12 talks about the heavenly Jerusalem, and it talks about it in correlation to Mount Zion, okay? In fact, go to Galatians chapter number 4. Let's look at it here. Galatians chapter number 4, Galatians chapter number 4 in verse number 24, it says, excuse me, let's start in verse number 22, for it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman, but he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise, which things are in allegory, for these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which genereth to bondage, which is Agar, for this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answerth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children, but Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. Skip down to verse 28, now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise, but as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. So when the Bible talks about Jerusalem, which answerth to bondage, answerth simply means reflects, so we're talking about the Jerusalem, which now is, the one that exists physically that we can see with our eyes, that's the Jerusalem, which now is, answerth simply means reflects, it reflects the bondage, why, because the Jews were still in bondage, they were not saved, they rejected Jesus Christ, he came into his own, his own received him not, but the Jerusalem, which is above, pertains to those who are saved, that's what that's referring to. So when Revelation 14 talks about Mount Zion and the 144,000 that are with them, that's the Mount Zion that it's talking about, it's talking about the heavenly Jerusalem. How do we know that? Well, look at verse number two, well, I mean, the reason we know that, obviously, is because the lamb stood there, the lamb is not standing in the earth at this time, he's in heaven, and I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters and as the voice of great thunder, and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps, and they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before the four beasts, and the elders of no man could learn that song but the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. I mean, come on. First of all, you know, Tel Aviv is like the biggest fag city in the world. I guarantee you there's like no virgins there, okay, I can't say for sure, but looking at the statistics and the things that are taking place there, I guarantee you there's no virgins there. These were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth. So if you're gonna follow the lamb whithersoever you go, you need to be where the lamb is, which at this point, where is the lamb? He's in heaven. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the lamb. So what do we take away from this portion of scripture? Well, they are with the lamb of God on the Mount Zion. They sing a song that no man could learn, and they were not defiled with women, they are all virgins, they're all men, okay? And then also, these were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the lamb. Now, that phrase right there, that they were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the lamb, I believe is a strong evidence that this is not referring to someone who is in the earth when all this takes place. They're actually in heaven, why? Because it says that they were redeemed from the earth, and it says that they were the first fruits unto God, okay? Now, pay attention to that part where it says that they were the first fruits unto God. Go with me, if you would, to Jeremiah chapter 2. Hold your place there in Revelation chapter 14, and go to Jeremiah chapter 2. Now, when we think of the first fruits, what do we think of? We think of the resurrection, okay? First Corinthians 15, 20 says, but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept? Verse 23 says, but every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits afterward, they that are Christ at his coming, this is referring to the resurrection. He was the first resurrection. Then those that are dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them in the clouds. That's the order of events when it comes to the resurrections, okay? Now, but that's not the only definition that first fruits has. First fruits has the definition of a resurrection, but it's also talking about those who were redeemed, those who were one to Christ. For example, in Romans chapter 16 verse 5 says, likewise, greet the church that is in their house, salute my well-beloved Epinades, who is the first fruits of Achaia unto Christ. What does that mean? They are the first people who were one in that region of Achaia. That make sense? So when it's talking about first fruits, yes, it is referring to the resurrection, but you got to look at the context because it could also refer to the fact that someone got saved there. If you have someone who comes to our church who got saved in the city of Omani, we could say they were the first fruits of the city of Omani. Those are the first people that we want to Christ. Now look at Jeremiah chapter 2 verse number 1, it says, moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying, Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness in a land that was not sown. Israel was holy in the sense of the Lord, and the first fruits of his increase. All that devour him shall offend, evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord, Hear ye the word of the Lord, our house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. So what do we see? Well, obviously, we understand that the people in the Old Testament, not everyone was damned. Right? There is a lot of people that got saved in the Old Testament, okay? And salvation has always been the same, despite what these stupid dipsticks say. There was not a different dispensation of the Gospel in the Old Testament, they were saved the same. And we'll get into that in just a little bit when the Bible talks about the everlasting Gospel. Go figure, right? Everlasting means everlasting. It means it's always been there. So these people were redeemed from the earth and were the first fruits. Now why do I believe that that's referring to the fact that they were saved was because they're from the Old Testament. So these 144,000 were redeemed and they were the first fruits, they were the first people who got saved in the Old Testament amongst these 11 tribes, okay, so to speak. So I think that's a strong witness to show that these aren't people who exist right now. These aren't the Israeli soldiers. These wicked Israeli soldiers who are bloodthirsty and just want to kill people and all of a sudden they get this free pass of being these great men that get to partake in the 144,000 camp. Now these are people who were saved in the Old Testament. And in fact, because we see them on Mount Zion first, what happens at the rapture, at the sixth seal, the rapture takes place, I believe they come down, they get their bodies, so they're coming down as we're going up, okay? So as we're being raptured, they're coming down to accomplish this great task that we see here. Now again, this takes place before the rapture, okay? Now go back to Revelation chapter 14. Again, talking about the 144,000, we know that their ministry is sowing when they come down here. So they come down here and they have the seal in their forehead and the reason for that is because of the wrath of God that he's going to pour these beasts that he's going to allow to come out from the earth who are going to just torment people who don't have the seal on their forehead, okay? So that goes to show us that they do have their resurrected bodies, whether they can feel pain or not, I'm not quite sure, but there's a reason why they have that seal on their forehead so that these, you know, demonic beings or whatever, these beasts from hell do not harm them. Look at verse number five, it says, and then their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven. Verse six is where these dispensationalists will talk about this last gospel, okay, the last gospel in the book of Revelation, and they'll use this verse, they'll say, and I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment is come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of water. So they state, the dispensationalists will state that verse seven is that gospel. They say that that last gospel is fear God, give him glory, for the hour of his judgment is come, and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of water. I mean, talk about a Roman's road. They claim that when the angel comes with that everlasting gospel, that is actually the gospel that they're gonna be preaching during that time. And in fact, that's why someone as retarded as Robert Breaker states that, hey, in the end times, you're gonna be saved by faith and works again, because you gotta worship God. You gotta give him glory. The hour of his judgment is come and worship him. You see, if you take the mark of the beast, that goes to show that you're worshiping the beast, you're worshiping the antichrist, but it's okay, you can still redeem yourself because you just chop off your right hand. You know, you get that chip, you get yourself some food, and hack that thing off, okay? That's what he believes. Don't look at me like that. I'm telling you, that's what he believes. Go look it up on his video. If you have the patience, just put it on speed 1.25, and you'll see that that's what he says. So he claims that the everlasting gospel that only lasts, that begins here, right, the everlasting gospel that begins in Revelation 14, verse 7, is to fear God, give glory, and to worship him. That's what you're supposed to do in order to be saved in the Old Testament, in the book of Revelation. So if you get the chip on your right hand, okay, you gotta cut it off. And he literally said, well, what if you get it in your forehead? He's like, I mean, you gotta cut off your head. Now that's pretty gruesome. At least Gene Kim said, well, if you get it in your head, this is what you're supposed to do. The Bible says you gotta pluck out your right eye. If it offends you, so you just gotta dig in there, and you just gotta somehow figure your way out to the middle of your forehead. These people are on crack. Let's just say this was true. Let's just entertain the thought, the potential of this being true, which is not, obviously. If you get a chip on your forehead, you don't gouge out your eye. I mean, wouldn't you think you just cut out? But he said you gotta pluck out your eye. So basically, it's like, in order to get to, if you lock yourself out of your house, okay, you gotta break your back windows in order to get all the way through. Why don't you just go through the front window? But he's saying, gouge out your eye, go all the way around, and take the mark of the beast out, and then you can be saved. But the foolishness, yeah, it's brilliant. Freaking amazing. No wonder this guy's a doctor. So he claims that that is the everlasting gospel, but the foolishness of that, and it just goes to show that these people are false prophets, false teachers, who are a natural man receiving not the things of the Spirit of God, because anybody with any brains in their head would understand that an everlasting gospel means it has no beginning and no ending. It's just everlasting, it's always been that way. So this everlasting gospel, obviously, this is a foreshadowing of what these 144,000 are gonna be doing while they're on this earth. This is their ministry. It begins before the wrath of God is poured out, before even the rapture, or when the rapture takes place, and then it ends, later on, let's see where it ends. Look at verse eight. And they're following another angel saying Babylon is fallen, or where is Babylon fallen in the book of Revelation? That's chapter 18. Chapter 19 is where the millennial reign is set up. So you see the everlasting gospel being given to these 144,000, what are they doing? They're preaching the gospel. They're going out to every facet of the world preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's gonna be a difficult time. And I'm not even quite sure if, you know, what takes place, or they're just gonna make it all the way through, or if that seal in their head is just to protect them from those locusts. We don't know. What we do know is this, is that that's how long their ministry lasts is from before the rapture up until the fall of Babylon, which in chapter 19, you have the millennial reign, okay? Now, so there we see that it reiterates the fact that they are redeemed, they have the everlasting gospel, and their ministry begins before the seventh seal, the wrath of God, but ends at the end of the wrath of God in chapter 19, okay? Now, go to Revelation 11. See, I know these things, but we're gonna reinforce these things, okay? And you know, I know you smell the food out there, and you see the cakes and stuff like that. You're like, I came for the food. I came for the food first, right? The next obscure character, the next two obscure characters that we're gonna look at is the two witnesses. Now, I'm really excited about this one because this is very intriguing to me, all right? And look, forget cable TV and all these other things that you're excited about, you know? There's enough in the Bible to get excited about, right? Look at Revelation 11, verse 1, it says, 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. Now, if you remember what I said in the beginning, the first chronology, the first section of the events that we see take place in the book of Revelation is from chapter 1 to chapter what? 11, okay? So, the very end of that first chronology is in chapter 11, and who's being introduced in chapter 11? The two witnesses, okay? It says there, verse 2, but the court, which is without the temple, leave out and measure it not, for it is given unto 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 standing before the God of the earth, and if any man will hurt them, fire proceed out of their mouth and devour with their enemies, and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. Now, let me just say right off the bat that obviously we can't say 100% sure. We can't say, okay, 100% sure this is Elijah and this is Moses, but I would say it is. Like, if you were to ask me, so who do you think it is? I would say I'm 100% sure that it's Elijah and Moses. Now, I'm not going to impose that upon anybody and say that's what you need to believe if you have different theories as to why, but out of those two prophets, there's one that for sure I believe without a shadow of a doubt. It's Elijah, okay, and I'm going to explain to you why, but notice that he says in verse number two, notice he says in verse number two, or excuse me, verse number three, and I will give power unto my two witnesses. Now, what is the power that he gives unto the two witnesses? We often read that and we think, well, the power is to kill people and to do all kinds of stuff, but really that's not the power that we see. The power is the ability to witness. You see, it takes power to preach the gospel. It takes a spirit-filled vessel to go out, preach the gospel, and see someone saved, but ye shall receive power from on high when the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be what? The two witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, unto the lattermost parts of the earth, but they're also referred to as the two witnesses, the two olive trees and the two candlesticks. This is a reference to the book of Zechariah. We're going to go to that in just a bit, and verse five says, and if any man heard them, fire proceeded out of their mouth. Now, what other prophet do you know called out fire from heaven to consume people? Elijah did that to the prophets of Baal. That is what he is characterized as, and it says there also, and devoured their enemies, and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut up, to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and have power over the waters to turn to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will. Now, this is, I believe, is a reference to Elijah and Moses still. Why is that? Because they have the power to shut heaven that it rain not. They also have power to turn the water into blood. Who did that in the Old Testament? Moses, right? To smite the earth with all the plagues, such as the plagues that infected the land of Egypt, right? Now, hold your place or go to James chapter five, James chapter five. Here's strong evidence that it's potentially Elijah who's one of the two prophets. Look at James five, verse 17. It says in verse 17, Elias, talking about Elijah, was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rain not on the earth by the space of three years and what? Six months. What is that? Three and a half years. And what is their ministry? How long is their ministry? Forty and two months. How long is forty and two months? Forty and two months is referring to those 30-day periods, right? That's an entire three and a half years. And he prayed again in the rain, excuse me, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. Go back to Revelation chapter 11. Look at verse seven. It says, when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them, and their 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 people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. So this is very morbid, because they're dead just lying in the streets. And as they're lying in the streets, they're not burying them, they're actually celebrating, giving gifts one to another. I mean, potentially this could take place in December. It's Christmas, this is the greatest thing that ever taken place. These guys who have plagued us and done all these things, they're finally put to death. And look what it says in verse 10. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, this is morbid, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another, excuse me, let me take a drink of water, because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth. And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood up upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither, and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them. And 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, and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe was passed, and behold, the third woe cometh quickly. Now this is speculation, but you notice that it says that when the earthquake takes place, seven thousand were killed. And the remnant were affrighted, the Bible says. And it could potentially be, because remember, a lot of what takes place in the book of Revelation, or what Satan does through the antichrist, is actually a counterfeit to what God does. And I'm sure Satan already knows about the 144,000 that they're scattered preaching the gospel. I believe these 7,000 are the counterfeit to them. And they're gonna use Romans chapter 11, where it talks about, hey, there's 7,000 prophets who have not bowed the knee to Baal, right? And he calls them the remnant, and I think God is just like, once he resurrects them, he's just like, now swallow those fools up. Bunch of phonies. Speculation, but I like to speculate. Verse 14, the second woe is past, and behold, the third woe cometh quickly. So what can we gain from this passage? Well, their ministry lasts for 1,260 days, all right? And it begins before the rapture through the second half of the week of Daniel's 70th week. Now how do we know, how do we know that they come before the rapture, right? Now think about this, right? Don't let me lose you. Think about this. If we make it through this time, we will see the two witnesses. Let that sink in a little bit. Because we read about these Bible characters, thinking that we'll never see them until we go to heaven. You might potentially see them in your lifetime one day, because they're gonna come back, if it's Elijah and Moses, because they come before the rapture takes place, okay? And they have a very public ministry, whereas the 144,000 are scattered abroad. We don't really know too much about them. These, on the other hand, the whole world knows about them. They're on social media, they're on Facebook, they're on Instagram, they're on YouTube. You know, probably someone makes a channel for them. They got the most subscribers. I mean, they're like, people know who they are, okay? And we're gonna see them. We're gonna be like, whoa, that's Elijah. So that's what he looked like. And you know, you're probably gonna be surprised to see is they probably don't look like the way you thought they looked like. I thought he had like a six-pack or something. I thought he had like big biceps or something like that. They're probably just normal guys who do great works for God. But just remember that they come before the rapture, so potentially if you make it through this time, you will be able to see, behold, with your own eyes, okay? These two prophets. Now, go to Luke 21. Hold your place there and go to Luke 21. This is how we know, this is how we can understand and we know that they came, their ministry begins before the rapture takes place. How do we know? Because in Revelation chapter 11, it talks about the Gentiles trotting the holy city underfoot for 40 and two months. And then it mentions the two witnesses. Now the parallel passages to the events that we just read about and the events leading up to the rapture are found in Matthew 24, Mark 13. But this specific passage that we see about the Gentiles trotting Jerusalem underfoot is found in Luke 21. Look what it says in verse 20. And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Now what is the desolation referring to? The abomination of desolation. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them that are in the midst of it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter there into. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem, that holy city, in Revelation chapter 11, shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Now how long is that time of the Gentiles? Well, according to Revelation 11, it's 40 and two months. What happens at the end of those 40 and two months? The millennial reign is set up. That seventh trumpet and vial is poured out, and the millennial reign is set up. And by the way, that's how we know that the millennial reign can be set up. Why? Because the wicked are actually removed from Jerusalem, or they're taken out of Jacob, as Revelation chapter 11 talks about. When the ungodliness is removed from Jacob, then the kingdom can be established in righteousness. Then all Israel shall be saved, all Israel shall be reserved, according to Romans chapter 11. Verse 25, and there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars upon the earth, the stress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's heart failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draw nigh. That's referring to the rapture. He said, well, hold on a second, but the two witnesses are mentioned there in Luke 21. Yeah, but the event of the Gentiles trotting Jerusalem underfoot is. So because we have Jerusalem being trotted underfoot by the Gentiles in Luke 21, which is the same exact event that we see in Revelation chapter 11, we can safely assume that the two witnesses are gonna be there as well, before the sun and moon are being darkened, and before we lift up our heads because our redemption draweth nigh. That's how we know that the two witnesses are there before the rapture, okay? Now what is their ministry? Their ministry is to preach the gospel as well, okay? They just have a more broader platform, so to speak. Now go to Zechariah chapter four. Zechariah chapter four is a prophecy of these two witnesses. And it's very obscure. Zechariah is very obscure when it talks about these witnesses, but I believe that it does shed some light as far as their ministry is concerned. Look at Zechariah chapter number four, and verse number one. It says, and the angel that talked with me came again and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold, a candlestick of olive gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereof, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof, and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my Lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my Lord. Then he said and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord, which is innumerable, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Now what, so in context, what is it referring to, the two candlesticks, the olive trees? And why is he saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit? Well, that's referring to that witness, okay? Skip down to verse 11. Then answered I and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick, and upon the left side thereof? And I answered again and said unto him, What be these two olive branches, which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my Lord. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. Now in verse number 12, he asked, What be these two olive branches, which through two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? So he's seeing this vision, two golden pipes that are emptying out this golden oil. What is that golden oil in reference to? I believe it's talking about the gospel. And the two golden pipes is the fact that there are vessels that are holding the power within them. Now, 2 Timothy 2 20 says, But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold, but of silver, excuse me, golden of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor, some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel to honor, sanctify to me for the master's use, and prepare them to every good work. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number four. So this is a direct reference to their ministry, that they are the two golden pipes. When you think of pipes, you think of your throat. Why is it golden? Because it got the everlasting gospel. That's why it's golden. It's valuable. That's what it's stating there. Okay? And it's pouring out the oil. What is that? God. This Holy Spirit. Why? Because Jesus said, My words, they are spirit, and they are life. The flesh profiteth nothing, it is the spirit that quickeneth. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. That's what the reference is there. Second Corinthians four verse four says this, In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light to shine in the darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure, like those golden, that golden pipes, those golden oils, and earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. Now another thing I want you to notice, we're not going to go there, is that it also refers to the two witnesses as the candlesticks. Now the reason I believe that is because I believe he's stating that the candlesticks is in reference to that they're soul winners, okay? And the reason I believe that is because if you remember in Revelation chapter two, in reference to the church at Ephesus, church at Ephesus had a lot of good qualities, but what was the one quality that was really bad? They had left their first what? Love. And they said, Repent and do the first works, lest I come and remove thy what? Candlestick. Well when does a church cease becoming a church? When no one's doing any soul winning, right? So what I believe God is saying there is that God is telling the pastor of that church, you better get your lazy butt out there and go do some soul winning or I'm going to remove the candlestick from your church. What are the candlesticks? The soul winner. The one who's actually doing the work. The one who's actually out there preaching the gospel. So once I remove that candlestick, you cease being a church. See what I'm saying? So I think that's even more validated when we see the two witnesses because they are called the two candlesticks. They're the ones who are lighting the world with the glorious gospel, alright? Now we obviously understand, go with me if you would to, let's see here. Go to Malachi chapter four and I'm done. Now who are the two witnesses? So I mentioned already that I believe it is Elijah and Moses. One reason is because in Matthew chapter 17 you have Moses and Elijah at the mount of transfiguration. When Jesus Christ is glorified, the two people who are there are Moses and Elijah. That is a strong witness to show that they are probably the ones who are there. But not only that, we see that when Moses dies in Deuteronomy 34 and verse number five it says, so Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord and he, referring to the Lord, buried him in a valley in the land of Moab over against Bethpeor, but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day. So when Moses died, now pay attention here, when Moses died, the Lord buried him and we obviously understand that according to the book of Jude, Michael disputed with Satan over the body of Moses. They didn't know where it was. Now I can't explain this, we don't understand why, but if you think about it, when that took place, when Jude wrote it, I mean how long after Moses' death did that take place? Bodies don't just survive very long. So there's a reason, there's something that God did, God I believe has preserved the body of Moses even unto this day. And the reason I believe that is because in Deuteronomy chapter 34, after he talks about burying Moses in the sepulcher that no one knows about until this day, it says, and Moses was 120 years old when he died, his eyes was not dim nor his natural force abated. And that's in reference to the fact after he died. So I believe that's a reference to say that his body is still preserved for the fact that if he's gonna be one of the witnesses, hey, he's gotta be up and running, the oil, it's gotta be, you know, the tank has to have some oil and some gas, it's gotta be good to go. And I believe, and it's not crazy to think that God can do that though. Obviously that's a unique situation there, but there's a reason for that, and it potentially Satan was disputing over the body of Moses because they probably understood that he could have used Moses as an idol for the children of Israel because they sat in Moses' seat, the Jews sat in Moses' seat and all these other things, okay? Now you're in Malachi chapter 4, this is the strongest evidence in my opinion to show that one of the witnesses is Elijah. Now what is the rapture character, what's another phrase for the rapture? What? Catching up, yeah, but I'm talking about the sixth seal. They call it the what? Day of the Lord, okay? So the day of the Lord is talking about the rapture, but it's also talking about what? The wrath of God. Now look at Malachi chapter 4 verse number 1, for behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven. Pay attention to the wording here, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and he shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall, and he shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of her feet, in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in horror for all Israel with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Now I know what you're going to say, don't you believe that's a prophecy of John the Baptist? Yes, absolutely is. But here's the thing, John the Baptist ain't Elijah. He came in the spirit of Elijah, why? Because they have that spirit of Zechariah that Zechariah was talking about. Not by might nor by power, but by his spirit, they came in the spirit of Elijah, right? I believe this is also a reference to that future ministry that's going to be taking place by the two witnesses. Why? Because it says right there, the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And look, when John the Baptist came, things weren't burning up. I mean, he was tearing it up preaching-wise, you know? But these prophecies that we see in verses one all the way through verse three, that didn't take place. In fact, it's not going to take place until that day. Why is that? Well, because when the day of the Lord takes place, then yeah, God's going to rain down fire and brimstone, and his wrath is going to be poured out. And the wicked will perish, and he will judge them. And it says there, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to their children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Now, you understand this, that in the Bible, when a prophecy is made, it's often fulfilled multiple times. Not just once. You can't look at a prophecy and say, well, you know, unless it's like staunch telling us, hey, this already took place. Most of the time, when you see a prophecy, especially in the Old Testament, it has an immediate fulfillment, but it also has a future fulfillment as well. And I believe this is what that's referring to as well. And so, that's pretty much the message right there, you know? Clean up your life too, okay? Just kidding. I'm just kidding. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. And I pray, God, that you just help us to grow in our appreciation for the book of Revelation. I know we went over a lot today, but every once in a while, we need to hit on eschatology and remind ourselves of what we believe and what the Bible teaches. And I pray that you bless the meal, Lord, and the fellowship to follow. Thank you so much for all that you do for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.