The Revelation 11:1-4 | Episode # 1070

November 14, 2025

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

The Revelation 11:1-4 

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

If you would like to revisit today’s Bible study, please visit our website at https://hopealive.buzzsprout.com/ to download the transcript. 

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Transcript

This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to Hope Applying God's word to your daily life.

Hi, this is Chad Harrison and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years.

I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life.

I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up.

His word to you and allow you.

To see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today in Jesus name.

Because it is really.

It's that chapter that's the commercial chapter. Okay.

It's really the chapter that's interesting to you because,

you know, as we're reading through this, you wonder.

You wonder as you're studying through this whether the people of the times that this is going on actually know what's happening.

Okay. Do they have somebody to tell them what's going on in their.

In.

In this time of, well,

the wrath of God being poured out? Okay. And so the answer to the question is yes, and how do they know? Well, God sends two witnesses.

He sends two witnesses for them to hear from. And by the way,

they take on a major role in this. And you can only imagine understanding in the times we live in now and the ability for these two witnesses to be seen all over the world because of television.

And by the way, this passage gives us an allusion to that. It tells us that people from every tongue and nation and tribe sees them. Well, I mean, how do they know that they're there?

And how do they know that it's happening if it's not taking place on a medium by which the whole world can know? Which, by the way, couldn't really take place until the late 1950s and early 60s in any real way, technology wise,

where broadcast companies were beginning to pop up across the United States, but not necessarily across the world really, until the modern age of technology with phones,

where you can see events happening real time on your phone.

Really,

that age has not been around but the last 10 or 15, 20 years,

I can remember I got my first brick phone at my first church that I pastored, and it was literally a brick,

okay?

And they said,

we're giving you this pastor so we can get in touch with you when you're not at the church. But the problem was it only worked at the church and maybe one other place in the whole town.

All Right. And so I don't. I guess I needed to, you know,

stop in at my house, at the church, and then this one other parking lot to check in, make sure nobody. I don't know how. I don't really know why I had that brick phone.

And I never used it. And when I say I never used it, I never used that phone because it was worthless. And that was in the late 90s and early 2000s, okay?

Because at that church, I.

We face the horrible and devastating world calamity called Y2K,

which was absolutely nothing.

And so many times. And I mentioned that because the calamities and disasters and Chicken Little running around, the skies falling,

that we see regularly in the world today is.

Well,

it is. It is nothing compared to what is going to be happening during this time period,

which we call the Tribulation,

where up until this point in our studies, 10 chapters in half the world's population has been killed.

Okay?

So we've never faced that kind of calamity.

And you go, well, what's that got to do with the witnesses? Well, the witnesses are gonna be on TV and they're gonna be prophesying. And I do wanna go through those verses real quick that we went through last week and then move on to the new ones.

It says, then I was given a reed to measure a measuring rod,

verse 1 of chapter 11.

And the angel stood saying, rise and measure the temple of God,

the altar and those who worship there.

Okay? Now what this is, is this is a picture of a measuring by measuring rod is a picture of judgment,

okay?

And this is a picture of the judgment of the Jewish people. And we know that from chapter 10,

the seven thunders being closed up and not being told to what. What they mean. Even though John is given the understanding, he's told not to say what the seven thunders means.

And as you read through it, and we studied through it a couple weeks ago, we understand that that tends to lend to the answer to what happens to the Jewish people as far as the New Testament and as far as God's plan for them.

And so this measuring rod,

measuring the temple of God,

the altar and those who worship there is an important understanding that God's judging everything.

There's a judgment of everything.

And that's why I do believe that the church is not here,

because we do not face the judgment,

the wrath of God and his judgment as the body of Christ. In fact, the Bible tells us that we shall not undergo his wrath,

okay? And so we're objects of his grace and his Mercy, not his wrath. And that's why I believe. I do believe in at least a mid trib.

My mind just went rapture,

if not a pre trib rapture, okay? I don't believe that the church is taken up after the full tribulation,

okay?

And so when we're studying this, though, you can believe that and it doesn't. It's not a hill to die on. Okay?

All right.

Understanding that there is a judgment of everyone who has rejected the Christ presented in the New Testament, okay? And it says,

he says, but leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it,

for it has been given to the Gentiles and they will tread the holy city underfoot for 42 months. Now, what does that mean? Well, part of God's judgment of Israel is that the Gentiles, even though they have sprung up as a nation again.

Now, you need to understand, when John writes this,

if he writes it after Rome has sacked Jerusalem and destroyed it, it's not long after.

And if he writes it before then, he doesn't really have a total understanding of what's happened in Jerusalem, and he's not in Jerusalem anyway,

okay? And so he doesn't really know to what extent this Roman sacking of Jerusalem, which takes place in 70 AD and is a fulfillment of Jesus's prophecy, Jesus's words about the temple and about the city.

And so he doesn't know how that works. And so these 42 months are very specific to him,

though he doesn't really understand how that's all gonna work out. And remember, when we talk about this prophecy,

when we talk about the book of the Revelation, there's times when he says,

definitely God says, tell them this. That's a prophecy, okay? Especially chapters two and three, when he says, this is what the Spirit says to the churches. That is when I say prophecy, that is a telling.

Thus saith the Lord.

All right? And then parts of the book of the Revelation are visions, and we know that they're just visions and dreams that are given. And he's trying to explain them as best he knows how.

And that's why Dean can still hang on to the helicopter part of it, because he's just given us a.

He doesn't know. We do not know if it's helicopters, and we don't know if it is American helicopters. We don't know if Dean's helicopters are involved in the Book of the Revelation,

nor shall we speculate thus,

okay? He says,

and I will give power to my two witnesses now. Here's where the two witnesses are mentioned. All right? Witnesses are those who tell something.

They're the ones who talk it out. By the way, the number two is very important in scripture when you run across it, okay? The number two is very important in scripture when you run across it.

It means,

well, two totally different things sometimes. All right? Two either symbolizes division,

okay?

Or it symbolizes a faithful witness,

okay? Where Christ is concerned, he's the second person of the Godhead, and he is the physical manifestation of God. He's the witness of God to humanity,

okay? So being the second person, the Godhead, he's a witness, all right?

When Jesus goes up on the mount of Transfiguration, he meets two witnesses up there, okay? Two. Two patriarchs. And we know that that's Elijah and Moses. And that's why we go to this.

We get to this place where we're trying to figure out who these witnesses are. That's why those two are two likely candidates for being the witnesses. All right? Now,

he says, and they will prophesy 12, 60 days clothed in.

Well, let me read verse three real quick. And I will give power.

I will give power.

And power there is italicized, okay?

The phraseology indicates power. I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy,

meaning they will speak truth.

As we use the word prophecy, I want to continue to say that prophecy can be a vision that God gives you. Prophecy can be, thus saith the Lord.

This is what's going to happen.

But prophecy also can be, which is very important,

the telling of God's word in a way that things are spiritually discerned.

Does that make sense?

All right, so you might be in a Sunday school class and somebody being there, prophesying, meaning they're breaking down the word of God. And in a way that the Holy Spirit is giving you discernment in those things.

Or you might have it at a.

You might have someone come and prophesy to you when you eat lunch with them, meaning they give you God's word and it just comes. It just unveils itself to you.

That would be a word of prophecy that they would give you, okay? And they might even speak some other words.

I was dealing with somebody this week, and they were just so excited that I understood their gift.

And so it was fun to deal with that because you can get a word of prophecy or you can get a word of knowledge.

Those things are mentioned as gifts in Scripture.

And a word of knowledge is somebody telling you something that opens your mind up to God's. Plan for your life.

Okay? And so a word of knowledge is very powerful to get from someone.

It's encouraging and it's strengthening.

And so these men are witnessing.

They're telling what God is revealing in the midst of this tribulation.

Now, I want you to notice,

even in the midst of this judgment, God is continually revealing himself.

He's continually revealing himself. But I also want you to notice that he's not revealing himself the same way he does in the New Testament,

okay? He's revealing himself the way he did in the Old Testament through prophets.

Okay? He's not revealing himself in the New Testament, which is by what?

Direct revelation through the Holy Spirit.

Does that make sense to you?

Direct revelation. That's how you have God's word revealed to you.

Direct revelation by the Holy Spirit.

All right? And so he says. He says these are the two olive trees. We talked about olive trees last week about olives being the source of the oil.

By the way, when we anoint someone up here, we anoint them with virgin olive oil, okay?

It is the symbol of the divine power of God at work.

These guys are olive trees,

okay? Which means trees are pictures of people.

Interestingly, if you want groups of people,

the two pictures in the Bible are forest or trees and fish.

Okay?

Fish are.

I don't know why God likes fish and trees,

huh? Surfing. Thank you, ma'. Am. Surfing. Turf. And we all love that.

And all God's people said amen. Yes, that's exactly right. And the two olive trees and the two lampstands,

notice they're not only olive trees, they're not only the source of that. God's not only enduring the whole world with their power, they're being able to be seen. That power is available.

But they are lampstands, which means they have the light in them and it shines out in the darkness.

All right? So they're the two olive trees, the two lampstands before God of the earth. What he's saying is, I am leaving somebody there to let the Earth know what's going on.

I'm not leaving you without a revelation.

Now, you need to hear this.

If God is going to give those which he have rejected him and he is going to.

To.

He's going to judge them,

bring judgment upon them,

and yet still allow for a powerful word or a powerful light to them to be available,

then anybody who's a believer should understand that God is going to bring about light into your life,

okay?

If he's doing that for them, he's sure enough gonna do it for his body, for his church, for his bride.

Okay, so those who feel like they're in darkness,

the reason you're in darkness is because you've walked into it.

Does that make sense?

You've walked into it. Now you go, well, how do I walk into darkness? Well, you just listen to the world.

You either indulge your flesh or you listen to the world.

Now I want you to hear me because I am a world watcher.

Are you following me?

I do listen to what's going on around me. I do.

I'm not oblivious to the news of our times.

Are you following me?

But you need to hear this.

There is revelation from God and then there's the world.

Are you following me?

And even if the world agrees with you in a matter, doesn't mean it's from God or that they're from God.

Are you with me?

You've got to deal with the Holy Spirit and God yourself.

And it's not going to be okay that God when God has sent his son to reveal himself in his word and God has sent the Holy Spirit to indwell you for you to go up there and say, well, you know, but so and so told me this.

Sorry,

it's not gonna work for you.

Are you with me?

You can't go to God and say, well I wandered off in the ditch over here because, you know,

so and so told me to go get in the ditch.

Are you following me?

You need to let. The Holy Spirit needs to.

You need to be listening to the Holy Spirit at all times when you're watching and listening to all things.

As.

You go today I pray that the.

Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.