IF ONLY YOU HAD TOLD ME...
Revelation 10-11
Bob Bonner
January 22, 2006

This past month the nation has mourned the loss of twelve miners living in West Virginia. Some were husbands, fathers and grandfathers. Some of them were sitting in church services just like this during the holidays. And now, they are gone. Some, undoubtedly, did not know Jesus. Does that concern you? Bother you? Let’s be specific. Where are those dead miners right now, if they did not know Jesus? Could any of them have said to their living Christian friends, “If only you had told me about Jesus. If only you had the courage to stand up to even my ridicule, and told me about Christ, I might not be here?” 

Two weeks ago, my wife’s brother-in-law died of cancer. Two years ago, before he married my sister-in-law, he did not know Christ. But later, he committed his life to Christ, not knowing he would be dead in less than a year. Joe’s death leaves a hole in our lives, but not a hopeless one. We know where Joe is and we are excited for him.

What will it take for some Christians to take courage and boldly share the truth about Christ? What will it take for some Christians to be determined enough to love the lost so much they will tell them the truth? Maybe reading the book of Revelation will do it.

This morning, we are continuing our study of the book of Revelation. Before we do, let’s make sure that we are all on the same page.

Presently, our study has us in the period known as the Great Tribulation, the last three-and-one-half years of life on this earth as we know it today. We have already looked at chapter 6 which deals with the seal judgments. We have looked at chapter 7 which is the first of three parenthetical sections. These parenthetical sections do not advance the chronology of events, but rather give us further details as to what is happening during the judgments preceding each parenthetical section. Last time, we looked at chapters 8-9 which dealt with the trumpet judgments. Today we begin the second parenthetical section which is a rather large section, beginning with chapter 10 and concluding with chapter 15. Following this, comes chapter 16 which concerns the bowl judgments followed by the final parenthetical section in chapters 17-18.

Today, we are going to look at chapters 10-11 that are in this second parenthetical section. However, for us to appreciate the pressure and distress that people will be living under at this time, I think it might be enlightening for us to review the previous judgments and make some observations about them.

Like the trumpet judgments to follow, the first six seal judgments fall in a chronological order. However, note that the first five are all caused by human actions:

  1. In a cold-war battle, Antichrist takes over rule of the world.
  2. World war breaks out against the Antichrist, he wins!
  3. Aftermath of war: world famine, economic upheavel.
  4. One-fourth of the world dies.

I believe that this fourth seal judgment is the result of the famine caused by the war, in addition to pestilence on the food supplies and animals going wild looking for food. According to the text, it is possible that some of the animals going wild, and the pestilence, is demonically influenced.

  5. Martyrdom of believers by Antichrist forces.

But following this fifth seal judgment, the actions that bring about the death and destruction changes. No longer is it human action, but here it is the result of divine judgment.

  6. God’s galactic judgment on the earth.

This judgment has the planets being touched or destroyed by God in such a way that the effect of this galactic judgment is felt by earthquakes and other problems on the earth. No one, rich or poor, educated or not will escape the horror of this judgment. Personally, so great is the effect of this judgment upon the earth, I see no possible way for human life to survive more than a few days at the least or a month at the most.

In chapters 8 and 9 we read about the seventh seal judgment which is really not just one judgment in itself, but rather it holds all the seven trumpet judgments to follow. What’s very interesting about these next judgments is that all of them come as the result of God’s actions. Furthermore, the first four of them are the direct result of galactic events that impact the earth. I believe that they happen quickly and are more detailed events of the ongoing six seal judgment. Look at them:

 1. One-third of earth’s vegetation destroyed.

• This vegetation will be destroyed by elements outside of the earth being thrown to the earth in the form of hail and fire, both of which are mixed up with a blood red material.

 2. One-third of sea life and ships destroyed.

• These too will be destroyed by elements coming from outside the earth to the earth.

 3. One-third of fresh water supply polluted.

• Likewise, this destruction will come from outside the earth’s atmosphere.

 4. One-third of the stars destroyed.

• Do you see why I suggest that with the galactic sixth seal judgment, and with these judgments coming as a result of it, that people have few days to live? Having that many stars destroyed will totally disrupt gravitational pulls and placements of planets in their orbits, relative to suns, etc. Life just cannot continue much longer. Yet, there are still more judgments coming!

With these next two trumpet judgments, God releases the pent-up demonic forces to attack human life on earth. In the next judgment, the demonic forces are prohibited from killing any human beings. They can only torture humans.

 5. Demonic forces torture human beings.

• The situation will be so terrible people will want to die so badly that they will beg to be killed and will try to kill themselves, but they won’t be able to die.

 6. Demonic forces permitted to kill one-third of human life.

• But then, finally, God permits these demonic forces to kill one-third of human life.

These will be desperate times like the world has never known. But there is more happening at this very moment that our chapters for this morning fill in. Revelation 10-11 contains “Three witness sections” where the witnesses speak of God and His plans. The first witness section makes up all of chapter 10, and concerns a “strong angel.” The second witness section is found in 11:1-14 and concerns two special human witnesses or prophets who will preach during the last three-and-one-half years of the Tribulation. The third witness section makes up the balance of chapter 11 and records the praise of the 24 elders who are in heaven surrounding the throne of Jesus Christ.  

Let’s begin our study with chapter 10, looking at the first witness section, that of the “mighty angel.” We read, “I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire; and he had in his hand a little book which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land; and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices. When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.’ Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there will be delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.” 

The first question that needs to be asked and answered is, “Who is this mighty angel?” There are two views as to who this mighty angel may be. One is that this mighty angel is Jesus Christ. The other is that he is what the text says, just a mighty angel. My conclusion is that this angel is not Jesus Christ, but rather a mighty angel as the text states.

Whoever this angel is, there is one thing for sure. The dramatic introduction of this angel in verses 1-4 was in preparation for the pronouncement of judgment which follows in verses 5-7.  This angel’s very stance of one “foot on land and sea” implies a position of power and authority over the entire earth to declare God’s judgment.

According to verse 3, “seven peals of thunder,” is the articulate voice of the angel that John could understand, and it was thunderous in power. However, even though John understood what the angel said he was not allowed to write down what he heard. He was to seal up or keep undisclosed what he had heard. This illustrates a divine principle that while God has revealed much to some, there are certain secrets which He chooses not to reveal to all of us at the same time.

Yet, having said this, wouldn’t you like to know what the seven peals of thunder said? One thing we can be sure of is that thunder, when it is used in this way, always symbolizes the judgment of God. Furthermore, the angel’s sworn statement that “there shall be no delay” ushers in the sounding of the seventh judgment trumpet. In other words, when the seventh angel blows the seventh trumpet, things will be coming quickly to an end on earth. This will be the fulfillment of what is called “the mystery of God.”

“The mystery of God” had previously been announced to God’s prophets. The mystery concerns who God is as related to how He operates His plans for this world. The prophets understood certain portions of this mystery, but not in its complete fulfillment. This mystery concerned the details of how, in the last days, God was going to bring this world as we know it to an end, ushering in the glorious Millenial Kingdom of God on earth. Hence, this mystery of God coming to fruition marks the end of the Tribulation period.

Keep in mind that, although the seventh trumpet is mentioned here, that trumpet doesn’t sound until 11:15, and the results of which are not explained until 16:1.  

After the angel speaks, John hears another voice from heaven, presumably Jesus Christ’s. We read, “Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, ‘Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.’ So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, ‘Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.’ I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And they said to me, ‘You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.’”

We are not told what the book contains, but a good contextual guess would be that it carries the information contained in the seventh trumpet judgment to come.

So, what does this incident of eating the book mean? Though no interpretation was given John, according to Jeremiah 15:16, when the prophet Jeremiah ate God’s Word, it meant that he was appropriating what God had said to his life. Similarly, John was taking to heart what God had revealed to him. 

To John the Word of God in general was indeed sweet with its revelation of the grace of God and John’s promised salvation. David agreed when he wrote in Psalm 19:9-10, “The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.”

Though the Word is sweet to believers in general, this specific word from God was sweet and bitter to John because the judgments of God would fall on both believers and unbelievers living during the Great Tribulation. It was bitter to him, because he knew that it would not only cost Israel in the future, but it would cost him as well. People would reject him as the bearer of bad news, like they had done to the prophets in the Old Testament. Hence, John was exhorted “You must prophecy.” He was to deliver these prophecies by mouth and through his written word to “many peoples” or a multitude of peoples from the first century to today and beyond, including peoples of all nations, races, poor and rich alike.

With the close of chapter 10 and the beginning of chapter eleven, we come to the second section of witness. This time, in verses 1-14, we are going to look at two specific prophets who will witness for Christ during the last half of the Tribulation period.

Different than the previous verses in which the angel speaks in the voice of seven peals of thunder, the words in these next verses are not written in poetic terms. Hence, they are best understood when taken literally.

“Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, ‘Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.’”

What does this measuring refer to? If you have a dispute with your neighbor as to the property line and who owns what, what do you do? You hire a surveyor and he sets out to measure and nail down stakes as to what is yours. When God calls for the measuring of the Temple and the people, He is claiming ownership to both. The Temple and all the worship associated with it rightly belongs to Him and no one else. Furthermore, the measuring of the worshipers in the Temple says in effect that God will continue to evaluate a person’s genuine worship and one’s character and that one day all will give account to Him as to whether they belong to Him and how they lived their lives.

Beginning with verse 3, we read about these unique “two witnesses.” We read, “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not 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 plague, as often as they desire.”

The time frame of these two witnesses and their persecution again points to this being in the second half of the Tribulation period; besides the context telling us this, we know from other passages that during the first three-and-one-half years, these two would not have needed His protection. Also, in that they are instruments of God’s judgment on the entire earth better fits what we already know from the seal and six previous trumpet judgments that take place during the second half of the Tribulation.

The biggest challenge with these two witnesses is trying to identify who they are. There have been four possibilities offered: One is that they are Moses and Elijah. Some have identified the two witnesses as Enoch and Elijah.

A third possibility is that these two witnesses are unknown to us today, but will be raised up from among those who turn to Christ in the time following the Rapture.

A fourth possibility is Joshua and Zerubbabel as per Zechariah’s vision of the two olive trees and two lampstands, which is referenced in verse 4. While there is room for considerable discussion of these various views, the fact is that the passage does not identify the two witnesses. Hence, their identity does not appear to be too important, other than to say they carried with them the authority of God. Also, verse 5 tells us that no one would want to harm these two. God supernaturally protects them by giving them awesome power. Death will come to anyone who even wants to harm them. However, as is the case of many other prophets of God, when their jobs are finished, their enemies are permitted to overcome them, as we read in verse 7-10. In these verses, we read for the first time out of 36 references to the “beast” in Revelation.

“When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city [Jerusalem] which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.”

Some see three different beasts mentioned in Revelation, that form an unholy trinity:

• Satan, the beast out of the bottomless pit (11:7);
• the Antichrist, the beast out of the sea (13:1);
• the false prophet beast, coming up out of the earth (13:11). 

However, it seems better to understand the beast of 11:7, that comes out of the bottomless pit not as Satan, but as the Antichrist who is energized by Satan himself. Furthermore, according to Revelation 17:8, the beast clearly refers to the Antichrist.

As an aftermath of the death and resurrection of the two witnesses, the Scriptures record in verses 13, 14, a great earthquake that rocks and fells one-tenth of Jerusalem.

“And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; [one tenth of the structures not people] seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.”

Since the words “the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven” are used elsewhere to refer to people repenting, believing and worshiping God, I see “the rest” as referring to other believers in Jerusalem.

With this event, the second “woe” is brought to its completion and is evidently regarded as the final phase of the sixth trumpet. The third “woe” contained in the seventh trumpet is announced as coming quickly, the end is in sight. At this point, we once again sense the increasing pressure upon the earth, the universe and the people therein with each of these events.

“Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.’ And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, ‘We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power [His power is being proclaimed] and have begun to reign.’ ‘And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, [God’s plan is being fulfilled from beginning to end] and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name,[His promise of rewards] the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.’” [His earthly punishment of evildoers is being declared].

These verses mark what will be happening at the very end of the Tribulation: the righteous dead who died during the Great Tribulation will be raised and judged and will take their rewards and rule in the Millennial Kingdom. The unrighteous will be destroyed. These dead will not be raised or judged until after the millennial reign is over.

With verse 19, the scene shifts back to heaven. We read, “And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”

In this chapter, there appears to be a deliberate contrast going on here between two temples. This chapter opened with a temple on earth, but now we see the temple in heaven. The focus of attention is on the ark of God, the symbol of God’s presence with His people. 

In the Old Testament tabernacle and temple, the ark stood behind the veil, in the holy of holies. God’s glory rested on the ark, and God’s Law was within the ark, beautifully illustrating that the two must never be separated. He is the holy God and must deal righteously with sin. But He is also the faithful God who keeps His promises to His people. As the ark of God that led Israel through the Jordan and into their promised land, so would the ark of God lead the people into the Millennial Kingdom, proving that God always keeps His promises.

Many people study prophecy enthusiastically until they find it applies directly to their lives and makes demands upon them personally. Then they lose interest in the words of God as found in His prophecies. For them, like for John, God’s prophecy goes from being sweet to bitter. It’s “sweet” to read about the coming of Christ, but “bitter” when we consider the cost to us.

Like John, each of us is not only to keep in mind the prophetic events to come, but we must preach, speak of and warn friends and family as to what is coming. We are to live lives that give us the right to speak to them about such things. We must preach Christ and be ready to suffer reproach for it. But do not misunderstand something very important. Some people rightly suffer the reproach of others for our manner in which we preach. Some of us are obnoxious, condemning, unloving and self-righteous when we speak to others and wrongly offend them. It is not our message, but us.

But others, no matter how righteous we live or loving we speak or sacrificially we serve, we experience rejection and accusations of being “self-righteous” when we have not been. In that situation, we must not stop speaking about the truth of the end times and Christ’s ability to rescue and transform lives and marriages. We are to speak truth no matter how unpopular it may make us with friends or family members.

The words of Isaiah 2:22 come to mind, “Stop regarding man whose breath of life is in his nostrils; for why should he be esteemed?” In contrast, a corollary verse, Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Or here’s another, Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.” In short, do you love the Lord? Then, get with it! What is holding you back from living and speaking the truth to your friends and family? Their very eternal lives depend on it. 

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