God's dress code

April 1, 2009

Revelation 11:1-14

God knows us, He knows the value that our culture places on looks and dress, so God wants to impress us with His “two Witnesses” and he dresses them in sackcloth, and the people did take notice of them.  In fact God grants this authority to His two witnesses; “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.  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.”

These guys don’t just look bad, they are bad, they can hurt you and God will not let anyone harm them.  They will preach the truth of God, to a people who have no interest in truth, so they will use some attention grabbers, like no rain, turning the water into blood, or just any plaque that they need to get the nations to listen to the message.  You would think that people would be quick to listen, and turn to God but that is not what John tells us is going to happen.  At the end of three and one haft years or as the Scriptures state, 1,260 days, they will have finished their testimony; “the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them.”  John tells us that they will leave the bodies of the two witnesses lying in the street for three and a half days, and people from all over the world will gaze on them, I am sure Fox and Friends, CNN, and all the other new outlets will have cameras fixed on these bodies.

Not only will it be the main story, the people all over the earth will be having the “Two Witnesses” party, yes great rejoicing, giving of gifts over the deaths of these two men whose crime was, being bearers of the truth.  But that is not the end of the story as Paul Harvey would have said, “Now the rest of the story” “But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and 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.”  John tells us that all hell broke out at this time, 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. 

The only thing I have to compare it to is 911, now I know that is a weak comparison, but do you recall how the people of the United States ran to church, for maybe two weeks, and then they went back to what felt good, golf or football, or just sleeping late.  The attitude was, the crisis is over and we got to get back to what makes us happy; these are the same kind of people being reported to us in Revelation, they are just like us.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice