THE DYNAMIC DUO

And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”  (Revelation 11:3)

There are things that go together: peanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs, peas and carrots.  There are names that go together: Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Batman and Robin.  Speaking of Batman and Robin—those two are known in comic book lore as the dynamic duo.  The caped crusaders are from a writer’s imagination, but there is a real dynamic duo that arises in the end time—not fighting crime in Gotham, but standing for truth in Jerusalem.  Revelation chapter eleven tells their story.

During the tribulation period, a temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem (Rev.11:1-2). Preparations are being made by Jews to bring this to pass.  It is the great yearning of their hearts.  It may be part of the peace settlement that Antichrist will promise to Israel to entice them to sign a treaty.  This temple, however, shows Israel still failing to receive their Messiah.  Jesus came and sacrificed His blood to establish the New Covenant.  Many times in the epistles it is stressed that returning to temple worship is rejection of His atonement.  Eventually, the Antichrist will enter this temple and defile it, setting himself up as God and demanding the worship of the world.  The measuring rod here is a symbol of judgment.  This temple doesn’t measure up.  Its worship is repudiated.

God will raise up his dynamic duo to proclaim the truth—to call Jews and Gentiles to Christ (v.3-10).  During earth’s darkest era, God will have His two lampstands shining brightly.  Their ministry is supernaturally confirmed by great miracles.  They stand in the spirit of Moses and Elijah.  Some think they are literally Moses and Elijah returned.  Some scholars suggest Enoch and Elijah.  While I respect their views, I believe more likely they are two who have the attributes of those mighty men of God, but not actually those servants.  Other things are clear.  They are invincible—divinely protected.  The Antichrist will want to silence them because they expose him for the liar he is.  Sinners will despise them because they confront their evil deeds.  George Whitefield said, “We are immortal until our work on earth is done.”  There comes a time when their ministry is finished—God’s appointed hour for His anointed heralds—and they are slain.

The world has a holiday.  What a celebration when they are killed—their bloated bodies are paraded before the gawking masses and beamed around the world by television!  Just when evil thinks it has triumphed, God shuts the party down (v.11-14).  Isn’t it reminiscent of what happened when Satan thought Jesus beaten and silenced in the grave?  Death was defeated—up from the grave He arose, with a mighty triumph o’er His foes!  In that resurrection power He will summon the dead in Christ back to life and with living saints rapture them.  The world tried to explain that away.  God will show them that reality by raising and rapturing the dynamic duo.  The scene shifts from earth’s temple to heaven’s (v.15-19) with the Hallelujah Chorus sung victoriously.  Lightning flashes and thunder rolls; more judgments fall on a world that despises God.  I want to be with that throng above don’t you?  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life—trust Him today and be on the winning side, not left behind to face these horrors of the tribulation!

IN TIMES LIKE THESE

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come….  (2 Timothy 3:1)

Our world is hurtling with ever-increasing speed toward judgment.  When people reject the love of God, refuse the Son of God, and resist the Spirit of God, then we have come to the perilous times of which Paul warned.  God declared, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.”  (Gen.6:3)  Are we on the verge of another cataclysm?

We face THE CERTAINTY OF PERILOUS TIMES (v.1).  The Apostle assures us that dangerous, difficult, and deadly times will come.  We need to wake up!  If these are the last of the last days, with the Lord’s return at hand, He should not find us sleeping.  Alarm bells are going off.  We not only need to wake up—we need to get up!  We cannot afford to hit the snooze button.  There are souls to rescue; there are souls to save!

We find THE CHARACTER OF PERILOUS TIMES (v.2-5).  This sounds like we are reading today’s newspaper. “For  men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money”—being absorbed with egotism and consumed with materialism.  The next trio of words, “boasters, proud, blasphemers,” convey a spirit of self-sufficiency, as people arrogantly assert their autonomy against the Lord God.  This issues in disrespect for all authority as humanity is “disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers….”  At the top of the list is rebellion against parental authority.  If this is not respected, then no other authority will be.  For such, God is either ignored or scorned.  This leads them to be, “without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty,” for apart from God there are no moral absolutes.  The creed becomes, “If it feels good, do it!”  Sinners of the last days are marked as, “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”  They may still have a veneer of religion, but absent saving grace.  Idolatry and immorality are pervasive in these perilous times.

We note THE COURSE OF PERILOUS TIMES (v.6-8).  Inevitably, it leads to the destruction of the home (v.6).  The family is the basic building block of society—and if it crumbles, civilization ceases to be civilized.  Thus, Satan infiltrates the home, establishes a beachhead, and attacks relentlessly.  This is why we have an epidemic of people living together without marriage, homosexuality, rampant divorce, abortion and child abuse—as the Devil is intent on destroying family life.  There is also the deranging of the mind (v.7).  Humanity has made great progress educationally, but regressed ethically!  Furthermore, there is the defiling of the church (v.8).  The men mentioned here were satanic counterfeits who opposed Moses—miracle workers whose power deceived the masses—and we have them today.  Many in the church are following these “Pied Pipers.”

There is, however, THE CLIMAX OF PERILOUS TIMES (v.9).  God has drawn a line in the sands of time.  Evil will proceed so far, but no further.  The inevitable judgment is fixed and final.  The verdict will be pronounced and sentence imposed, with no other appeal to be heard.  In times like these, you need a Savior—for the time will come that He will no longer extend compassion, but exclaim condemnation!  Hear His voice today!