Revelation 11:1-14: The Church: A stench of death and an aroma of life
Revelation 11:1-14
Zechariah 4:1-14
The Church: a stench of death and an aroma of life
This is my Mitsubishi Colt 2006.
This car simply won’t die!
As much as I have thought this car was going to die in the last 3 years- it simply hasn’t- it just keeps going….and today, although I shouldn’t speak too soon, it has been resurrected from the dead and has more life in it than ever.
I was given this car by my brother-in-law and it has been a faithful servant.
It is not perfect by no means.
The ignition switch has always been a little dodgy…….the key had to be turned at a certain angle and pushed with a certain amount of force for the engine to start…it would often take 2 or three attempts to start it.
The gear stick is a little loose, it can easily just slip from 1st gear to fifth instead of third.
The air conditioner hasn’t always worked, in fact a few months ago, I was told by one mechanic that the air conditioner was dead, only for another mechanic to fill it with gas and resurrect the air conditioner- it now blows ice cold…..
This little colt hasn’t coped too well with the potholes of Wingham….it has needed a few trye changes.
And then, there has been the damage inflicted to the side doors, as my wife Kari accidently backed the Tarago into the little Colt- not once but twice, and yes…it was my fault, I shouldn’t ‘t have parked behind the Tarago.
This car is battered and bruised, but it simple won’t die.
And it is not for a lack of trying to get rid of the car either.
A few years ago, I was given a “fancy pants” Volvo, a car that had more buttons on it, that I didn’t know what they all did. This Volvo also had a lot of K’s on the clock, and so just in case I kept the Colt, just in case something happened to the Volvo.
Sure enough, the engine on the Volvo blew and I was back to the colt.
Recently I purchased a second hand Hyundai, but just for back, I kept the Colt, even though I put it for sale on market place. Sure enough the Hyundai had electrical problems and I was back to the trusty old Colt.
This Colt just won’t die, it is not for a lack of bumps or bruises, it is not for a lack of total neglect, no it has had both of these things in spades and yet it simple won’t die.
Friends, as we come to Revelation chapter 11 today, we are going to talk about all sorts of things, but if there is one thing I want you to remember today it is this…….
The Church, that is God’s people, we may be a little battered and bruised at times, we may be rejected again and again by this world, but the church, that is God’s people will never die.
We may have many imperfections like a ding in the door or a dodgy gear stick, but we will never die, and why?
Jesus has promised us that He will build his church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it!
Jesus will build his church, this is what he has promised, and what he promised is as good as done!
In each generation there has been times when the church is considered as dying, and we live in a generation now, where the church could be considered dying, less and less people belong to a local church, less people have a faith, and yet friends, we may be dying, but we will never die, since Jesus has promised it so.
As we look at Revelation chapter 11 today, I am going to show you 2 reasons why the church will never die, and when I say church, I mean the people of God.
But before we look at those 2 reasons, let me remind you of the context in which Revelation chapter 11 was written.
In chapters 8 and 9, you may recall, that John had a vision of seven angels who blew seven trumpets. And those seven trumpets that are blown represent God’s judgements that he has been showing the world continuously over the last 2,000 years: famine, wars, economic disaster, disease, which climaxed with the sixth trumpet blown as Satan and his demons did their worst.
Then in chapter 10 and 11, there is a pause before the seventh and final trumpet is blown and we look at John’s vision from a different angle. Chapters 10 and 11 turns the camera angle from all the wrath of God, and his judgement, to look at those whom will be spared the wrath of God.
The seven trumpets follows the same pattern as the seven seals from chapters 5-8. The first six seals were opened, then there was a pause in chapter 7 to look at those who could stand the wrath of the lamb, and then the seventh seal was finally opened.
And so just as chapter 7 looked at the 144,000, the great multitude, those who had been spared the wrath of God, those who had been sealed by His Holy Spirit, that is the church- God’s people: chapter 11 looks at the same group of people, the church- or as chapter 11 calls the church here- the temple of God.
So, with that little bit of context given, let us look at the 2 reasons why God’s church will never die.
1. God’s church will never die because God knows his church and it is God who protects his church.
Look at verses 1 and 2 with me:
Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.
Now, when John was told to measure the temple of God, it wasn’t a physical temple that it was talking about.
Revelation 3:12 makes it clear that this is talking about a spiritual temple, or more accurately it is talking about the people of God.
We are the temple- those who Christ has purchased with his blood.
Look at Revelation 3:12 with me:
12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name
Clearly, it is the people of God who are the pillars of the temple. It is not a physical temple but the temple represents the people of God.
And so just like God counted his people using the symbolic number of 144,000, God knows and counts who are his, as he told John to measure the temple of God.
Revelation 21:22, tells us that in the new heavens and new earth there will be no need for a physical temple because the Lord God almighty and the lamb are the temple.
Jesus claimed in John 2, that he was the temple, he was the place where man and God met, hence we no longer need a physical temple.
Now, some of my godly brothers and sisters believe that what John is writing about here is a physical temple, which will be built in the city of Jerusalem and used for a 1,000 years after Jesus has returned to this earth.
Obviously, I disagree with this view.
I don’t think we will need to build another temple, since Christ is not only the temple, but He is also, the final and complete sacrifice. It would seem odd that we would go back to animal sacrifices. But perhaps even more jarring, is that I don’t think Christ will come back and reign on earth for a literal 1,000 years.
I think Christ will return and reign forever, since I think we are in the symbolic 1,000 year reign of Christ right now.
The number 1,000 is always used symbolically in Revelation and so I don’t think it needs to be applied literally to the 1,000 years reign of Christ.
But that is a talk for another day.
Hopefully as brothers and sisters, this is one of those doctrines we can agree to disagree upon.
But, Let us go back and wrap up this first point
1. God’s church will never die because God knows his church and it is God who protects his church.
God tells John to measure the temple of God, the altar and those who worship there- that is the church, because this symbolises that God knows his church, he knows who are His and he protects them.
This is why John is told not to measure the court outside the temple, that is those who are not the church, those who don’t belong to Christ, because God does not know them or protect them.
And notice that God gives authority to those outside the temple, that is those who don’t belong to the church, those that are not God’s people, he gives them authority to trample the holy city for forty two months.
Those who are not God’s people are given authority by God to persecute the church.
They are given authority to pop the tyres, make a few dings in the door, loosen the gear stick, but they are only given the authority to persecute the church for a set period of time which God has ordained.
It tells us in verse 2, that they will trample the holy city for 42 months.
Again, this length of time is not literal, but symbolic.
This forty two months just represents a time of trail for the church, a time which has been limited to come to an end by God.
42 months, is the same as 3 and a half years, which is the same as 1,260 days- the same amount of time mentioned in verse 3.
3 and a half years is the same as one year, plus 2 years, plus half a year, which could be written, time, times, and half a time, which is same amount of time mentioned in Revelation 12:14.
This number 42 months, 3 and a half years, 1260 days, time, times, time and a half and even 3 and half days, represent the time of trail that the church will go through.
When Israel travelled through the wilderness they camped in 42 different places. When Elijah prayed that the rain would stop, it stopped for 3 and a half years. When Daniel in Daniel 7 talked about a kingdom going against the kingdom of God, he said it would last for a time, times and half a time.
Friends, the church has always been going through trials and it will always got through trails until Christ returns. The church may suffer a greater intensity of persecution just before Christ returns but it always has been in the times of trail, it always has been in a time of tribulation.
Even the apostle John in the first century believed the church was going through tribulation as he wrote in Revelation 1:9.
But despite all the trials and tribulations, the church will not die and why?
Well this brings me to the second reason.
2. The church won’t die, because God’s Holy Spirit is with us, and he will never leave us nor forsake us
Now before we get to the Holy Spirit, we need to look at these two witnesses that are mentioned in Revelation 11, verse 3.
Look at verse 3 with me:
3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
This verse tells us, that at the same time, the nations are trampling the people of God for 42 months, God will also give authority to two witnesses to prophesy, who are clothed in sackcloth.
Clothed in sackcloth means these two witnessed will be preaching or prophesying a message of repentance and belief.
Friends, even though the church will be persecuted, at the same time, God’s word, the message of the gospel, repent and believe, will still go out to the whole world. Even though the world will just want and try to kill the church, the church will continue to grow as people repent and believe the Goodnews of Jesus.
Now, who exactly are these two witnesses and why do I believe these two witnesses point to the word of God, which is also the sword of the spirit?
Well, Look at verses 4-6 with me:
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.5 And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. 6 They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.
Now forgive me, if this is a little long, but this is one of the most difficult passages of scriptures to interpret.
These two witnesses are described as two olive trees and two lampstands.
Now, the lampstands in Revelation 1 represent the church. Remember, the seven lampstands where the church and Jesus was in the middle of them.
But these two particular lampstands are describes as
1. having the power to shut the sky, hence is points to the prophet Elijah who prayed for the rain to stop for 42 months and it did.
2. It describes the other lampstand as one who has the power to turn water into blood, as Moses did before the exodus.
And so these two lampstands represent Elijah and Moses who interestingly enough were the two people that Peter, James and John saw standing alongside Jesus when his body was transformed on top of the mountain.
These two prophets Moses and Elijah represent the law and the prophets, and the law and prophets are often used to describe the writings of scripture.
Hence, the two lampstands represent God’s word, and the two olive trees represent God’s spirit.
The two olive trees represent the spirit of God- but we need to look at Zechariah 4 for us to understand this:
Now Zechariah was written at a time when the physical temple in Jerusalem was being rebuilt after the Jews had returned from Babylon, and chapter 4 tells us that Zechariah had a vision of a lampstand and olive tree.
Just look at Zechariah 4:1-6
And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. 3 And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” 4 And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts
Zechariah in this vision, saw a lampstand with seven lamps which were being fed golden oil from the olive trees (as it tells us in Zechariah 4:12), and what did these olive trees and the golden oil represent?
God’s Spirit.
This is why the angel said to Zechariah, it is not by might, not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord.
Friends, the church will never die, because we are powered by the spirit of God.
And so the church may look like a run down Mitsubishi colt……but that doesn’t matter, it is not by worldly might, or worldly power, but is by His spirit, that God builds and protects his church.
The world may try and kill the church and the world will even rejoice when they kill people of the church, like they rejoiced when they crucified Jesus. The world may celebrate when the church is persecuted for standing on biblical truths, like marriage, the sanctity of life, and so on……but know this friends, Jesus is building his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Satan and his cronies will try his hardest to kill the church, but the church simply won’t die.
God knows his people,
God protects his people,
God is with his people
by his Holy Spirit indwelling in us.
Let us pray.
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