The Two Witnesses and the King Who Reigns Forever

when paul writes to the church [Music] he describes the power of jesus when he says therefore god has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father come on there's no other name like jesus if you're new to church or you're new to this idea of who jesus is this is the name above every name this is the name by which you can be saved oh you can have a seat then if you're going to have a seat i will tell you there's no sweeter name than the name of jesus we say at journey church

it's all about jesus we want to continually remind ourselves it's not about me it's not about you it's not about the government or any other thing you know this divisive world right now i mean this is a divided world we can get all upset over just a mask or we can get upset over a vaccine or we can get upset over all these things there's one thing we should focus on right now and it's going to unite us the devil can't stop it and it's jesus christ so let's turn our hearts to him right now let's would you ask god in your heart would you speak to me today would you just make that your prayer lord we come before you and we say have your way we do not want to play games we don't want to play church

we do not want to be religious god i just want to meet with you i want to ask that you would change what needs to be changed and i humbly ask lord if there's anyone here today that's uncertain of their future or uncertain of who you are i pray right now in jesus name that you would capture their heart that god there would be a certainty that we can be saved because of you jesus for that i thank you i thank you for who you are and what you've done in jesus name i pray so be it and amen and amen well may i just personally welcome you to journey church today if we've not had the privilege to meet my name is keith i'm the lead pastor and i would love to meet you would be an honor as we really explore who god is together

at journey church we say there's hope for everyone and we mean it that means you you can have hope today we're going to dive deep into the book of revelation the book of revelation is all about jesus this book of revelation teaches us that jesus is resurrected jesus is the reigning king and jesus is returning soon jesus invites all of us every single one of us to repent the word repent means to change your thinking to turn to god to trust in him instead of living your way you want god's way if you're just joining us here at journey church the book of revelation is written by an author named john

it's the last book of the bible it's relatively easy to find john is given this revelation of jesus and he's told by jesus this divine outline so that we would better understand the book revelation 1 19 john is told by jesus to write therefore the things that you see that's what we find in revelation chapter one he's also told to write down the things that are we find that in revelation chapter two and three we find seven letters to seven different churches the number seven means complete jesus has a message to the complete church we're living in that age right now it's known as the church age it's it's the time of the things that are and then finally john's told to write down the things that will take place after this the the greek phrase for after this

is meta tauto write down the things that will take place after this after these things what are these things the church age after the church age is over at a blink of an eye there will be a time after this that we find in the book of revelation called the great tribulation it's a terrible time god's wrath and judgment will come upon an unbelieving world if you want to go back and watch some of the previous messages if you've missed any or you want to catch up we're at revelation chapter 11 today we're exactly halfway through this book we find ourselves halfway through this tribulation time today we'll look at revelation chapter 11. last week we left off in chapter 10 with a mighty angel john the author gets

this vision of an angel the word angel means a messenger this angel had one foot on the land and one foot on the sea and we see that god has a message for the whole world this angel has a book in his hand john was instructed to eat this book or to take in the whole book the whole bible john's told it would be sweet and sour and he eats that book he gets into the word and it is sweet to the taste but it's also bitter in his belly that's what happens when we take the whole counsel of of god's word of the scriptures we will find that there is sin and sin leads to death but there's also a savior named jesus the bible teaches us there is eternal judgment but there's also eternal life this is a book of grace

and truth today we turn to revelation chapter 11 starting with verse one we're going to cover the entire chapter today then john says after the angel after he eats this book 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 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 42 months john is told to mark and measure the temple he's given this rod some translations say a reed it's a wooden stick if you will it's a measuring tool like we have measuring tapes today he's

told to measure the temple the temple is known as the dwelling place of god the temple is found in the city we're out do you know jerusalem it's found in this holy city that john is actually told it's this city in which the nations will run amok for 42 months for three and a half years but before then he's to measure the temple this is the temple that we read about in the scriptures that was first created by solomon david's son david the second king of israel david known as a man after god's own heart wanted to build the temple he saved up the resources he wanted a permanent place for god prior to the temple there was a tabernacle and david believed that god

deserves something more than just a traveling tent but david was not the one that built the temple it was his son solomon and it was spectacular in all its splendor there was artists and the the best contractors you can imagine they designed this temple place and there are different sections of the temple where certain people can go there's one place in the temple that's described as the holy of holies it's divided by a curtain and it's there in the holy of holies that the ark of the covenant dwells inside the ark of the covenant is the torah the very word of god what we know is the ten commandments on top of the ark of the covenant is the mercy seat this place represents the presence of god if you want to meet with god you would travel to the temple if you want to atone for your sins you would bring a sacrifice and the

the priest would slay that sacrifice and it would be reminder that your sin leads to death now animal paid the price for your sins and god forgives you because you made the step to meet with him there would be a priest that meets with man and was a mediator between man and god the problem is that temple was destroyed in 58 86 bc by king nebuchadnezzar when he ransacked jerusalem because the israelites were unfaithful to god he allowed this city to be destroyed including the temple several years later this temple would be rebuilt it was known as zerubbabel's temple it was not nearly as cool as the first temple but it was a temple nonetheless it's a reminder of god's restoration that when we turn to him and we trust him we can have a right relationship with him and

god allowed the temple to be rebuilt and restored so that people can meet with them many years later herod as a ploy would pour a bunch of money into that temple now would be known as herod's temple with the same one but now it looks even better and herod did not do this so that he would be right with god he didn't do this so that because he loved god herod did it as a political move sometimes politics and religion mingle together and it was this temple that jesus looked at and said if you destroy this temple in three days i'll rebuild it everyone was confused how can you get a construction crew to rebuild this temple in three days yet he was referring to himself he was referring to his death his burial and his resurrection that the living god has come into the

flesh and he would defeat death he rose from the grave and by believing in jesus you no longer have to travel to a temple to meet with god you no longer have to bring a sacrifice that will be slain for your sins but now when you believe in jesus the lamb that was sacrificed for our sins now your body actually is a temple of the holy spirit now you are a living temple god wants to meet with you god wants to be with us and he wants to be in us and jesus was pointing forward to the relationship we can have with him so what is this temple here that john's told to measure when the bible it teaches us much about how we should live it teaches us much about history but in the book of revelation it also teaches us of things to come

the old testament prophet daniel warns us that there will be an antichrist that will come and at just the right time this antichrist will unite the world the world will think that he's some type of messiah and today if you travel to jerusalem you see the remnants of this wall millions of people from around the world come and witness the most holy site of the jewish people what's known as the wailing wall where myriads and myriads of jewish people are praying for the messiah to come they've missed that jesus is the messiah yeshua hamashiach meaning jesus is the christ the chosen one the messiah and yet they're still praying that the messiah will come and they believe that this messiah will

build the temple on that mount where the rock of the dome is today the third holiest site of the muslim people today if the temple was to be built it would cause an all-out war between the muslims and the jewish people so how is this possible well i'll tell you if you carefully watch the news and subscribe to some services of the jewish people today they're preparing for this temple to be built they're preparing with a red heifer that would be the perfect sacrifice they're preparing the priestly garments they're getting ready for this day and it's coming for with the antichrist he will unite the people to allow the rebuilding of this temple a third time john's told to mark her to measure this temple why would he be told to measure the temple

the only reason you measure something is to determine what's yours if you purchase a property and you're unserved the prop uh property lines you would hire a surveyor to mark out the property to measure it to determine what's yours and it is it's this it's as if god is telling john i want you know the temple is mine and everything in it the worshipers are mine but don't mark the outside of the temple which is where the unbelievers would be the unbelievers couldn't go into worship at this place but i want you to know that this is mine this is going to be important that we would know what's god's he reminds us through the scriptures who he is and it's all actually his john's told not only to measure this temple we're told in verse

3 and i will grant authority to my two witnesses that they will prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days clothed in sackcloth this is the same measurement of time that we read in verse two these 42 months by the jewish calendar that's three and a half years so for the first three and a half years of this tribulation time there will be two witnesses that will prophesy they'll be wearing sackcloth and then for the remainder of this three and a half years the 42 months we see that the nations will run amok that the antichrist that united all people will actually turn on them that's exactly what the enemy does he disguises himself as truth which is why you need the word of god to

discern what is of god and what is not for the enemy wants to deceive you and it's in this place as he unites them he will turn on the jewish people and these two witnesses will prophesy the word prophesy means to speak forth god's word they're going to speak forth god's word the very thing that we can do paul encouraged the believer in jesus to seek prophecy you should want god's word so you can share god's word so that you can prophesy these prof prophets seem to be reminiscent of the prophets of old they're wearing sackcloth sackcloth was used in the scriptures as a sign of mourning when someone died and you want to show the world that you're grieving you would wear sackcloth it was it's an abrasive material

that simply determines on the outside this is how you feel on the inside you're grieving your mourning and represents to the world that you're hurting right now sackcloth was not just used in grieving it would also be worn by those that want to repent they when you want to turn from your way that is sin and turn to god's ways you would wear sackcloth as a representation that sin separates me from god sin is like an irritation so i'm going to turn to god i'm going to wear this representing that i choose god's ways and the world would know that i'm a sinner in need of a savior now what the old testament prophets would do is they would wear sackcloth when they entered into a city that was living in sin and they would preach they would preach repent

and their outer garments would represent what they want people to do on the inside to repent and we see these two witnesses that will proclaim this message of prophecy are representing what god wants in our hearts he wants us to be a witness he wants us to repent he wants us to be real with this world and i want you to note that they're not alone they they have each other it's not one witness it's two god is constantly using two we see with god's judgment on the earth when noah built an ark the animals entered by what two by two there are many famous twos in the scriptures there's moses and joshua there's david and jonathan there's uh priscilla and aquila

jesus would send out his disciples by two he frequently would send them out mark chapter six verse seven and jesus called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits he didn't say i want you to go alone he says i want you to have someone with you we're better together in matthew chapter 18 verse 20 is jesus that said for where two or three are gathered in my name there am i among them you see when you have someone else with you that believes in jesus you have a witness can i get a witness come on we need each other you're not to men you're not meant to live life alone you're not meant to just testify about jesus by yourself god wants you to have someone with you so we have these two guys who are these

two guys john tells us more revelation 11 verse 4 these are the two olive trees and the two lamb stands that stand before the lord of the earth and if anyone would harm them fire pours forth from their mouth and consumes their foes if anyone would harm them this is how he is doomed to be killed they have the power to shut the sky that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying and that they may 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 so for three and a half years these two will tell the truth what do we know of these two first john tells us symbolically they are two olive trees and they are two lampstands in the old testament scriptures and

olive tree represents israel god's people an olive tree bears fruit and olive if if pressed produces olive oil oil represents the holy spirit god wants his people to be fruitful he wants them to multiply he wants them to have the holy spirit it's what god wants for his people jeremiah the prophet warns in chapter 11 verse 16 the lord once called you a green olive tree beautiful with good fruit he's speaking to the israelites but with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it and its branches will be consumed god wants his people to be like an olive tree but if you turn from him if you worship false gods there will be a consequence there's

judgment and we see that what god can do will be removed now it's in this place these two witnesses are described as olive trees paul when he writes to the romans he gives a wonderful discourse on salvation in jesus if you want to know what salvation is just go read the book of romans and in chapter 11 paul speaks of this olive tree he talks to those who are not jewish he says if you're gentile gentile means non-jew he actually says because of jesus he takes you as a branch and he grafts you into the olive tree it means you weren't born into the olive tree but god actually allows you to be a part of his

plan this is the mystery and the wonder of god that no matter who you are you're never too far from god that when you believe in jesus you get to be a part of his plan he wants you to be fruitful jesus said you could tell a tree by its fruit you look at a tree you could see if they're grafted into god's family uh to produce good fruit to produce the fruit of the spirit you no longer are who you used to be you're who god says you are and so we see that we too should be witnesses they're not just olive trees they're described as two lampstands lampstands are easy to understand in that jesus explains what a lamp stand is at the end of revelation chapter 1 jesus explains the lamp stands at the end of this verse when he says the seven lamp stands are

the seven churches remember seven means complete the complete church ought to be a lamp stand we should be a light for jesus is the light of the world and when you have jesus you reflect his light jesus says in matthew chapter five he says you should be salt and you should be light you don't take a lamp and put it on a pedestal and then cover it up a lamp is to bring light to the room jesus says a church should be like a city on a hill the whole world should see the church living out and reflecting the glory of god and so we see these witnesses are reflecting jesus they're representing what we should represent the oil and the light now how does a lamp burn with oil you need the holy spirit the only way that you're going to burn

is to be an olive tree that you're going to produce what god wants you to have in your life so these are two olive trees and two lamb stands but then he goes on and describes what they're able to do they're given authority when you have jesus my friends you have authority you have the very power of god it was jesus in acts chapter 1 verse 8 that says when you have the holy spirit you have power the power of god's going to come upon your life so many times we're deceived and we think somehow that we've got to do things on our own strength you do not have to do it on your strength you do with the authority of god and god's going to do things in your life you could never do on your own as is the case of these two witnesses scholars have speculated what the name of these two witnesses are some say it's enoch and elijah for enoch and elijah when you read the scriptures did not die they were

taken into heaven the same thing that will happen to the church and maybe enoch and elijah were brought back since they never died maybe these are the two witnesses some have said no it's elijah and moses for moses and elijah represent the law and the prophets in fact malachi chapter 4 verse 5 proclaims this behold i will send you elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the lord comes then the old testament when you read about the day of the lord it's god's judgment sure sounds like revelation doesn't it before the final judgment elijah is going to come clearly this must be what malachi was talking about well jesus actually explains that that's not what malachi 4 5 is about when jesus went on a hike with peter james and john they went to the top of the mountain and

while there at the top of the mountain moses and elijah show up with jesus this is one of those weird texts this is not a a hologram this is this is not a spirit because jesus talks to moses and elijah moses on one side elijah on the other and he's talking to them and while talking them he's transfigured he's revealing the glory of god he's 100 percent man and he's 100 god and in just a moment moses and elijah are gone and as they're hiking back down the mountain here's what we read in matthew 17 verse 9 and as they were coming down the mountain jesus commanded them tell no one the vision until the son of man is raised from the dead jesus said he would do it

and he did what he promised he rose from the grave and the disciples asked jesus then why did the scribes say that first elijah must come they're referencing malachi chapter four they're saying according to malachi before the messiah does what he needs to do before there's a judgment of god that we read about in daniel with the antichrist and the tribulation and the powers that be in this war that will be waged in the tribulation elijah's got to come they're asking jesus some tough questions about the bible and jesus answered in verse 11 elijah does come and he will restore all things but i tell you that elijah has already come and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they please so also the son of man will certainly suffer at their hands then

the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of john the baptist maybe elijah's more of a metaphor there are elijahs that come and prophesy there are elijahs that come and act in the power and the authority of god it was then that the disciples said that was john the baptist so we did not need elijah to come for god to fulfill his plan but yet we see much more than just malachi 4 5 in reference to the suspicion that one of these witnesses could be elijah it was elijah in first kings chapter 18 that called upon god and a fire came down from heaven and consumed his offering it was elijah that called upon god to shut up the skies that it would not rain for

three and a half years to bring judgment upon wicked king ahab and jezebel that sure sounds like these witnesses that they call to shut up the skies yet my friends james the brother of jesus writes and he says when you pray you pray to the same god that elijah prayed to and elijah was no angel he was no superman he was just like us you have the same power and authority so although it gives a great glimpse of elijah it also gives us a glimpse of what we ought to do as a witness we should be a praying people praying for god's authority and power to work on earth jesus taught us to pray oh god let your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven now why do

people suspect it's moses well we see a great illusion to moses plagues in egypt with the plagues that will be brought on the earth it's abundantly clear the very thing that moses did to pharaoh in egypt is something similar that these prophets will do not just in egypt but around the world they will bring forth judgment now is it moses and elijah is it enoch and elijah or is it someone else are these new testament characters or or is it someone we don't even know i'll tell you if god wanted us to know he would have told us instead he leads us to speculation so that we would study his word and at the end of the day we can conclude this god is god and you are not and it's in this place that god wants us to be a witness as well

that what will happen to the tribulation is a reminder that we're going through some trying times jesus warned us that before he returns we'll go through some troubling days as well some of us think that that's the absence of god but i'm here to tell you it just means god is getting closer to that day that hour when jesus will return and we are reminded that we too ought to be witnesses now we turn to revelation 11 7 and when they these two witnesses have finished their testimony if you have your own bible i would underline those three words when they finish their testimony the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them and their dead bodies will lie in the street the street of the great city that symbolically is called sodom

and egypt where the lord was crucified let me just pause for a moment and focus on those three words finish their testimony if you recall back there are many that want to harm these two witnesses as they wreak havoc on the world with god's judgment as they remind the world there's only one god he's the true god he's in three persons the father the son and the holy spirit repent turn to him the world's not going to like this message they're going to want to kill these two witnesses but they can't because god has a plan and what god begins he will finish and i believe today god has begun a good work in your life and i know he's not finished how do i know that because you're still alive and until your heart stops beating and your lungs quit

filling with air god has a plan for you he's not finished with you yet but at just the right time your testimony will be finished and that's god's timing we don't know god's timing your last day could be today it could be tomorrow or it could be several years from now nothing surprises god statistics say that every single one of us are going to die so what will you do with your life will you be a witness for god or will you live for the things of this world if you live for the things of this world it will let you down at just the right time is going to let you down but when you finish your testimony that's when god will call you home at just the right time you have a story to tell my friend

you see a testimony does not come without a test you see god started your story the book of hebrews tells us that jesus is the author of our faith when you believe in jesus he rewrites your story and it's a good story i have a story and i'll tell you this the devil doesn't like my story the devil wants to try to stop my story he tried to do it when i was in my mother's womb he knew that god would do something great in my life i was born with an umbilical cord wrapped around my head i wasn't breathing i was black and blue but i'll tell you god saved me i'm here to testify of that today the devil didn't stop there i got a staph infection within days of being in the hospital as a brand new baby oh the devil wasn't giving up he wanted to stop me early

oh my father left when i was two years old i was a child i thought i was all alone i had this fantasy that all the families of the world were put together imperfect but mine all it took was me becoming a father and realizing that's a lie every family is messed up and broken come on can i get witness that's just the truth but the devil is a liar he's a deceiver he tries to lie to little kids and try to get little kids to believe something that's not true we're all broken we're all in need of a savior we all need to be restored we all need to be redeemed that's why this church was started to say that it's never too late with god you can go anywhere if god can get a hold of me he can get a hold of you but my story is not your story you have

a story to tell and it's a good story you're to be a witness you're to testify to the glory of god you're to let the whole world know if he can use me he could use you and i know some of you grew up in the church and you think i don't have that great of a story i'm not sure i want to share my testimony i hear that lie all the time the greatest story is someone that gets to know god early i pray that over every kid that we dedicate in this church that god would get their hearts early that they would follow jesus early that's the greatest story of all you say well wait a second i never smoked crack cocaine i never went to prison i was never a prostitute rescued by god it's not that dramatic of a story well i want to tell you if you believe in jesus you're forgiven of your sin you are rescued from hell you have the gift of eternal life that's a great story

you get to be a witness you get to tell the world i have jesus christ oh you got jesus you got power and authority over the devil the devil would try to stop you but the devil tried to stop jesus it looked like it was over but what happened with jesus he rose from the grave that's exactly what happens here the enemy the beast comes up out of the abyss that's the antichrist he united the world for three and a half years he made these witnesses look like fools but then he turns he turns against them he turns against the jewish people for the enemy is not for us he's against us but if god is for us who can be against us let's look at revelation 11 9 for three and a half days some from the peoples

and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb for millennia we would wonder how can different nations see these dead bodies on the streets for three and a half days it's impossible today we have the technology that we can stream the news you could be on any continent on the earth and see something somewhere else it would be an easy time for us to observe something happening in jerusalem we saw that with the tragedy of what happened in in israel just just a few days ago we we see that we're able to watch on the news something happening somewhere else in real time and in real time they're going to watch for three and a half days these bodies just lying on the streets and look at verse 10 and those who dwell on the earth will

rejoice over them being dead and they will make mary and exchange presence and because these two prophets have been a torment to those who dwell on the earth there will be a celebration people will head to the streets they'll they'll be a protest of praise that these guys are dead they'll create a holiday let's exchange gifts let's be happy that what these guys were doing they could no longer do these guys were saying there's one way these guys were saying there's one truth these guys were saying there's only one life there's life and presence there's life in exchanging gifts there's life in the things of this world and they will celebrate as if the things of this world are the things that we ought to live for

the life of jesus reminds us of so much more that it's never too late with god as he was buried he told us he would defeat death but it's hard in the moment to understand what god's doing and on the third day when jesus rose from the grave he reminds us he keeps his promises revelation chapter 11 verse 11 tells us what these two witnesses they're dead for three and a half days but after three and a half days a breath of life from god entered them and they stood up on their feet and a great fear fell on those who saw them then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them come up here and they went up to

heaven in a cloud and their enemies watched them and they and at that hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the god of heaven these two witnesses experience what happened to jesus they're resurrected see after one day when someone dies you're in shock and you wonder did they really die after two days it starts to set in that someone died but after three days there's a reality they are dead and after three and a half days god does what only he could do like the vision of ezekiel chapter 37 the prophet sees a vision of a valley full of dry bones

not just a few people a whole army of people that have been dead a long time all he sees is bones and god asks ezekiel can these dry bones live ezekiel answered wisely oh lord you know i don't know but you know i mean i know they can't but i'm going to let you answer this one lord and the lord told ezekiel prophesy over these bones live and he did he prophesied he spoke forth god's word the bones came together they rattled as they formed bodies and there was there was sinews and tendons and muscles and and and skin that came together and they looked like people but something was missing life and so the lord told ezekiel prophesy life prophesy

that the the breath of god would come from the four corners of the earth and breathe on them and he prophesied and life entered the breath of life a picture of what god did with adam he brought him forth from the earth he formed him out of the dust created in the image of god but it wasn't until god almighty breathed in that we see we are made in his image because of the life that's inside of us not the physical body the spiritual one after jesus resurrection when he entered the room with his disciples it says that he breathed on them this is the spirit of the living god

that he would fall afresh on us that if you are dead emotionally spiritually if you are dead somewhere in your life our god is the resurrection and the life that when you believe in jesus christ you get the holy spirit in your life and they're brought forth and what will happen to the church happens to them they are caught up into heaven some theorize a mid-tribulation rapture here that the church will be caught up in the middle of this tribulation i believe it's just an image of what has already happened to the church this is an image of what god wants to do with us that we will ascend with him when jesus returns and it's in this place the whole world will witness what happens the world will see what our god's able to do and we're told an earthquake follows what scientists try

to theorize and try to figure out they try to understand how these things work can happen in just a moment with god that's why insurance companies call these things acts of god you can't explain it and sometimes it's god's judgment as is this case during this tribulation time and so john tells us in verse 14 of chapter 11 the second woe has passed behold the third woe is soon to come now if you've missed any message as we've talked about the book of tribulation you can go back and watch you can listen on podcasts or facebook or youtube or our website or on any device we have an app with all of

our messages because there are three judgments and this is between the sixth and seventh trumpet in the second judgment god's going to finish what he started and so we will finish today with the seventh trumpet blown in verse 15 then the seventh angel blew his trumpet 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 shall reign forever and ever let's just stop right there for just a moment do you remember when the two witnesses died it says the the streets the their bodies lay in the street of the great city the great city is what city come on jerusalem it's in the holy city of god but

the city of jerusalem was called sodom which represents rebellion against god going against god's ways it was also referred to as egypt which is not a city it's a nation it represents the kingdoms of this world kingdoms represents political power there's there are many political powers and everyone wants the great power we witness this today some nations have nuclear power some nations have economic trading power we we have many kingdoms right now that's egypt we're told of the place where the lord was crucified some speculate it's the roman government for it's in that place that the romans put jesus to death but all of it represents the authority of what is already god's and right now looks like the devil is winning right now looks like the devil is reigning on this earth

but what we're told is that when that seventh trumpet blows we know put that verse back on the screen verse 15 the kingdom of the world the greatest political power in all of history has become the kingdom of our lord and of his christ and he shall reign forever and ever he is king jesus he was king jesus and he will forever be jesus which is why we trust in him even if we can't see it we know that he's going to restore that which is wrong look at verse 16 and the 24 elders these represent god's people the church who sit on the thrones before god they fell on their faces and worshiped god saying we give thanks to you lord god almighty who is and who was for you have taken your great power and begun to reign all the nations raged

but your wrath came and the time for the dead to be judged and for rewarding your servants the prophets and saints and those who fear your name both small and great and for destroying the destroyers of the earth we see once again in the book of revelation this is all about who jesus it's the revelation of jesus oh we try to get stuck on all the apocalypse and then the time and the tribulations to come but i'm here to tell you this book is about jesus and when you see jesus you want to worship three times we're told of these 24 elders about worship at this point in revelation chapter 4 they worship the creator and revelation chapter 5 the 24 elders worship the redeemer in revelation chapter 11 the 24 elders

worship the conquering king this should stir our hearts to worship the lord our god he's worthy of worship that whatever trial you're going through he's going to get you through it whatever tribulation we find ourselves in our god is greater and so our response is to worship this great god it may seem at some points in your life that god is not working but just as we see in these two witnesses he's the god of surprises he's able to resurrect he's able to bring back to life when the whole world says it's over that's when my god steps in he's that great he wants to use your life as a testimony but we have to decide do we want god's

ways or the ways of this world they're both very strong but god's ways are always greater jesus is the king and you can choose on this day that you want to worship him that your allegiance is not to the kingdoms of this world the church right now should represent jesus we live in a divisive world we're fighting over all sorts of things right now but there's one thing that should unite us and that is king jesus that should be the the passion of all of god's people that we would want jesus not just now but forever let's look at the last verses we conclude revelation 11 today verse 19. then god's temple it started with the temple on earth today we finished with the temple in heaven it was opened

and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple there were flashes of lightning rumblings peels of thunder and earthquake and heavy hail the focus is on our faith of a god that's in heaven see the temple is meant to represent the dwelling place of god and my friends and jesus you get the presence of god the ark represents the full presence of god one day you will get to be with the full complete presence of god this is great news as we're not to live for the things now we're actually meant to look forward to heaven you're to look up you're going through a troubling time right now look up your redemption is near that's what these scriptures remind us of that jesus wins every time

but my friends i have to ask you where jesus is in your life have you surrendered your life to jesus see you could read a book like revelation and you can be confused you read here in this last verse that there's going to be an earthquake there's going to be hell there's going to be all sorts of storms that are coming in god's judgment when you have jesus there's no need to fear the storm that judgment is for those who reject god's free gift of grace when you have jesus you realize god is in control you may not have it figured out but you have a god that does i want to just ask you right now in the seriousness of your heart where is jesus in your life would you just turn your attention to him now close your eyes

i just i just want to alleviate distractions right now of all the things you're going through whatever you walked in with today could you lay it at the feet of jesus there's a great invitation from jesus if you're hurting right now he says to all who are heavy-laden and burdened he invites you come to me i will give you rest if you want that rest today it's yours i want to start with the person that may be listening to me right now and you're uncertain of your future if you're not sure where you would go when you die you can be certain right now of the free gift of eternal life in jesus i want you to know it's infinitely greater than i can describe

it's infinitely greater than anything you can dream of and it's yours in jesus i want to ask if you want that right now as we just have our eyes closed i want to pray for you if you want jesus for the first time you want to just surrender your life to throw your hand up in the air so i could pray for you i would love to see your decision today right where you are praise god amen i see you praise god anyone else here today yes awesome [Music] so great to see god has been drawing you to him today god has been waiting for you to say my life is yours i wonder is there anyone else that just wants to save my life right now i'm going to raise my hand

and just say this is it if that's you right right where you are i want you to pray this prayer i'm going to ask if you've already surrendered your life to jesus that we would join in this prayer out loud as a unity that we are for king jesus and his kingdom if you want to pray this prayer for the first time say this out loud and church if you've already done that join with us here we go say this out loud lord jesus i surrender all i need you forgive me of my sins i trust you in your name i pray amen my friends let's just stay in a posture of prayer right now that's the greatest decision any person can make have you made that prayer you crossed over from death to life you

may not always feel different but god has changed everything i know though there are some in this room that are struggling you're hurting it feels like you've been attacked you're wondering where god is maybe we could use this word you've backslidden from where you've come you're here today and god has called you for such a time as this [Music] no more just wandering in this world it's time for you to get on your knees get in god's word and be a witness so lord i pray over your church that you would light a fire with your holy spirit that you would remind us the church of the power and authority that we will let the world know of a god that is love the redeemer the resurrection you are the way the truth and the life jesus

so god awaken your church may we be your witnesses in this time and we bring hope before the rapture we thank you for your word we thank you for the eternal life found in who you are and i pray in jesus name amen amen come on we can celebrate our great god today