Tour of Revelation Pt. 11
In the miniseries Carrie, Carrie White is a kind-hearted, homeschooled Sophomore who gets a taste of the public school system. She is bullied relentlessly, mocked, betrayed, pushed around, and belittled because her abusers can’t understand her quiet and conservative life. After a series of humiliations where she is publicly mocked on Instagram and devastated at the prom by a pig’s blood prank, she is ready to reveal her secret. Carrie is a telekinetic who can crush people with a thought, but she has held back her power to give her enemies a chance to be kind. Now her anger unleashes, and everyone at the prom is about to know Carrie’s awful wrath.
Carrie has a vengeful weapon against her enemies. How does Revelation 11 imagine the church being protected from their foes?
Revelation’s entire landscape is made up of bits and pieces of prophecy, judgment, and wisdom from the Old Testament. There are really no “new” ingredients in the last days, but a remix of God’s greatest hits. That is why it’s important to find out why the old ingredients are so significant.
In Revelation 11:1-12, the world will trample the church without prejudice. Then two witnesses appear on Earth and begin testifying to the world’s moral condition. This angers the population, but luckily the witnesses have flamethrowers coming out of their mouths for protection. Then, their luck runs out as a beast from the Abyss kills them, but they resurrect after three and a half days. Some scholars argue that two literal agents of Heaven will come down and start badmouthing the world in the last days, burning up others that get in their way. While God could very well do this, I think the imagery means more to the suffering church of history.
The story woven into this imagery is actually one of hope and strength. In Revelation, Jesus paints a picture of the bullies and harassers losing and the suffering Christians coming out on top. There’s no greater validation than Jesus’ hype team: the two witnesses. Elijah and Moses represented the stone-cold righteousness of the law. None can escape its inevitability. How awesome that Elijah and Moses back the church, adding extra firepower to the message of sin’s destruction. But just like anyone who stands up faithfully for God, the forces of evil are going to kill them to silence them. What seems like a loss of life for the Christians turns into the beautiful promise that resurrection comes from Jesus Christ.
How does this play out in Christianity today? We are believers who carry the truth about sin and the world’s need for Jesus. God fully endorses us to share this message. Those who hate our message will feel as if we are putting a fire to their feet. God can protect us from undue harm, but in the end, evil may silence us. But our story does not end until we are resurrected like Jesus.
Figure It Out:
I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.”[a] 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the Earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.
7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10 The inhabitants of the Earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the Earth.
11 But after the three and a half days the breath[b] of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from Heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to Heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.
Revelation 11:1-12
- Which part of this passage surprised you the most? What part of this passage feels like good news?
- Why do you think the world hates this message? Why does God want people to hear this message, even though the world hates it?
- As believers, how does it feel that “our haters” will meet such harsh consequences? How does God feel about having to carry out these consequences? Read 2 Peter 3:9 for clarity.
- What is our mission today?