Monday, December 3, 2018
Then I was given a measuring stick, and I was told, “Go and measure the Temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers. But do not measure the outer courtyard, for it has been turned over to the nations. They will trample the holy city for 42 months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will be clothed in burlap and will prophesy during those 1,260 days.” These two prophets are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of all the earth. If anyone tries to harm them, fire flashes from their mouths and consumes their enemies. This is how anyone who tries to harm them must die. They have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall for as long as they prophesy. And they have the power to turn the rivers and oceans into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish. When they complete their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit will declare war against them, and he will conquer them and kill them. And their bodies will lie in the main street of Jerusalem, the city that is figuratively called “Sodom” and “Egypt,” the city where their Lord was crucified. And for three and a half days, all peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will stare at their bodies. No one will be allowed to bury them. All the people who belong to this world will gloat over them and give presents to each other to celebrate the death of the two prophets who had tormented them. But after three and a half days, God breathed life into them, and they stood up! Terror struck all who were staring at them. Then a loud voice from heaven called to the two prophets, “Come up here!” And they rose to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched. At the same time there was a terrible earthquake that destroyed a tenth of the city. Seven thousand people died in that earthquake, and everyone else was terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second terror is past, but look, the third terror is coming quickly. Revelation 11:1-14 (NLT)
I think everyone loves to be
treated with respect and in a positive manner.
In recent years the word perfect has been perfectly
over-used by well-meaning folk. Suppose
a customer service agent is taking your information for an order; you’re asked
what color – you say “blue”. She: perfect! She: “how
many?” You say: “two”.
She: Perfect!
If she asked: “don’t you need at
least three more?”, you begin to get the idea that if you then said: “Because, I
just murdered my grandmother, buried her next to the president, whom I
kidnapped, shot, dismembered and ate for breakfast”, she’d say … PERFECT!
Now, if I’ve got your attention,
let me apologize for the early morning images, but I felt a need for purging the
overly banal tone “perfect” has become, so we can point to what John the Apostle
says about God’s perfect plan, and how, at this point in Revelation we
are only half-way there. The Book of the
Revelation is not what you’d call an “easy read”! But there are a few keys that can help with
our understanding; one of those keys is the idea of perfect.
“Seven” is the number of completion
(or perfection) in Scripture; it is God’s number, the
number which is perfect. In Revelation
alone we find reference to all kinds of 7’s:
seven churches, the seven-fold Spirit of God, gold lampstands, seven
stars, angels, torches, seals, horns, eyes, trumpets, thunders, heads, crowns,
bowls, and (gulp) seven plagues.
At this eleventh chapter we are at
the half-way point in the great tribulation, 3 ½ years which have produced
grief, misery, death and the promise of more to come. It is the culmination of the second terror, with
the third about to arrive. And yet, all
of this is but a prelude to the full-wrath of God, when He judges the earth
finally for all sin.
If you’re intrigued by Revelation
and all the imagery and apocalyptic coded messages, this is not the book to
read just before trying to go to sleep.
If you have trouble waking up in the mornings, this would be a great
book to study in the hour just before dawn!
Your eyes may not close for days!
The good news in all this miserable
march toward perfection is that the church won’t be there. Of course, there are many different takes on
this in the church. If you are a
standard, pre-tribulation rapture believer, then you rest easy, because the
church (according to Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians) is yanked out of earth
to meet the Lord in the air before all this stuff happens. A key verse is
For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. 1 Thessalonians 5:9(NLT)
For my dear friends who think the
rapture is a pipe dream, I do hope you’re wrong.
For You Today
Rapture or not, we’ll never get to perfect until
Jesus returns … but that shouldn’t stop us from going-on to perfection in love.
