SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/18/2015
9:08 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Witnesses Identity
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation 11:4
Message
of the verses: “These are the two
olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.”
I have just finished my Spiritual
Diary on a section from the book of Ezekiel which speaks about the “prince” who
is mentioned numerous times in the last chapters of the book of Ezekiel and
just as these two witnesses is not identified by name and so we don’t know who
he is or for that matter who these two witnesses are. We can, I think, get a better understanding
of who these two witnesses are by looking at some of the verses found in
Revelation chapter eleven, but as for a positive identification we won’t have
it. John simply identifies them as “two
olive trees and two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth” in our
verse for today.
John MacArthur writes “That
enigmatic description is drawn from Zechariah 4:1-14: “1 Then the angel who was speaking with me
returned and roused me, as a man who is awakened from his sleep. 2 He said to
me, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see, and behold, a
lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it
with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; 3
also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on
its left side." 4 Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me
saying, "What are these, my lord?" 5 So the angel who was speaking
with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?"
And I said, "No, my lord." 6 Then he said to me, "This is the
word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ’Not by might nor by power, but by My
Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. 7 ’What are you, O great mountain? Before
Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with
shouts of "Grace, grace to it!"’" 8 Also the word of the LORD
came to me, saying, 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this
house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts
has sent me to you. 10 “For who has despised the day of small things? But these
seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel-these
are the eyes of the LORD which range to and fro throughout the earth."
11 Then I said to him, "What are these two olive trees on the right
of the lampstand and on its left?" 12 And I answered the second
time and said to him, "What
are the two olive branches which are beside the two golden pipes, which empty
the golden oil from themselves?" 13 So he answered me, saying,
"Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my
lord." 14 Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of the
whole earth."”
As in the case of many of the
prophecies of the Old Testament this prophecy had a near and a far reaching
fulfillment to it. The historical
fulfillment was the building of the post-exilic temple by Joshua the high
priest and also Zerubbabel who was a descendant of David and a political leader.
John MacArthur explains “The olive
trees and lampstands symbolize the light of revival, since olive oil was
commonly used in lamps. The connecting
of the lamps to the trees is intended to depict a constant, spontaneous,
automatic supply of oil flowing from the olive trees into the lamps. That symbolizes the truth that God will not
bring salvation blessing from human power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit
(cf. Zec. 4:6). Like Joshua and
Zerubbable, the two witnesses will lead a spiritual revival of Israel culminating
in the building of a temple. Their
preaching will be instrumental in Israel’s national conversion (Rev. 11:13; cf.
Rom. 11:4-5, 26), and the temple associated with that conversion will be the
millennial temple.”
Now comes the time we have all been
awaiting and that is who are these two prophets, something we cannot be
perfectly sure of, but in his commentary John MacArthur gives four reasons why
he believes that these men are Moses and Elijah. This is not the first time that I have heard
who these men are as in my early years as a Christian studying this book I came
across the same idea. Now I will briefly
give these four reasons as to why it is believed that these men are Moses and
Elijah and even add one more as a fifth reason not given by MacArthur.
The first reason is from the
miracles that these two men did in their ministry while on the earth as they go
along with what these two witnesses will also do. They destroyed their enemies with fire, they
withheld the rain, they turned water into blood and also struck the world with
plagues.
Next both the Old Testament and
Jewish tradition expected Moses and Elijah to return in the future. “5 "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before
the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD (Mal. 4:5).” Now when the Lord Jesus came to earth He
explained to His disciples that if the people would have believed in Him then
John the Baptist would have been the one who would have taken the place of
Elijah, but they didn’t and so we can still look forward to having Elijah come
before the Lord returns as we will see in Rev. 19. Next we will look at Deut. 18:15, 18 “15 "The
LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your
countrymen, you shall listen to him.” “18 ’I will raise up a prophet from among their
countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak
to them all that I command him.” Now let
me go back and give you the verse in Matthew 11:14 to again speak of John the
Baptist as being Elijah: “"And if
you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.”
Thirdly “both Moses and Elijah
(perhaps representing the Law and the Prophets) appeared with Christ at the
Transfiguration, the preview of the Second Coming (Matt. 17:3).” “And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to
them, talking with Him.” Now just an
observation and that is that this was the first time that Moses made it into
the Promised Land.
John MacArthur’s forth reason is “both
left the earth in unusual ways.” Now we
know that Elijah left in a fiery chariot as seen in 2 Kings 2:11-12 and as far
as Moses he was supernaturally buried in a secret location: “5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died
there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. 6 And He buried
him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his
burial place to this day.” Let us also
look at Jude 9 “ But Michael the
archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses,
did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord
rebuke you!"”
Now let me add a fifth reason and
that is that neither Moses or Elijah finished their ministry while on planet
earth and perhaps that is why the Lord will bring them back again to do that in
the Tribulation Period. Some have
protested that these men cannot be the ones because of Hebrews 9:27 “it is
appointed for men to die once and after that comes judgment.” I want to direct your attention to John
11:14, 38-44 “So Jesus then said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead,” “38 So Jesus, again being deeply moved
within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39
Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said
to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead
four days." 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you
believe, you will see the glory of God?" 41 So they removed the stone.
Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have
heard Me. 42 “I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people
standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me." 43
When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus,
come forth." 44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with
wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them,
"Unbind him, and let him go."”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I don’t
know for sure that these two men are Moses and Elijah, but the practice of
comparing Scripture with Scripture is something that I as a believer began to
understand a very long time ago. I don’t
remember what the date was, but I do remember the event that was taking place
on the day and it was 40 years ago that I was listening to a sermon by a Pastor
that my mother use to listen to in the mornings when I was small. His name was Ralph Neighbor and the program
then was Morning Sunshine, and it may have been the name of the program I was
listening to 40 years ago, but he stated that as a person begins to grow in the
Lord they will be able to compare Scripture with Scripture in order to get more
out of the Word of God. We have done
that in this section in order to give us a pretty good idea of who these men
are.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Last night I
heard a wonderful sermon from a layman at our church on the fear of the Lord
and he quoted verses from Deuteronomy chapter six that goes along with this
section 1 "Now this is the
commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has
commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are
going over to possess it, 2 so that you and your son and
your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments
which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be
prolonged.” “4 "Hear, O
Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your might (Deut. 6:1-2, 4).” I am to love the Lord in the way spoken of
here because of the fear of the Lord. I
want to give the definition of that word fear so we can better understand it: “1) to fear, revere, be afraid
1a)
(Qal)
1a1)
to fear, be afraid
1a2)
to stand in awe of, be awed
1a3)
to fear, reverence, honor, respect
1b)
(Niphal)
1b1)
to be fearful, be dreadful, be feared
1b2)
to cause astonishment and awe, be held in awe
1b3)
to inspire reverence or godly fear or awe
1c)
(Piel) to make afraid, terrify
2)
(TWOT) to shoot, pour
There is a sense in which we are to
be afraid of the Lord as seen by the children of Israel when the Lord caused
thunder and lightning on Mt. Sinai, but we are also to show respect and awe of
the Lord too.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Paul.”
Today’s
Bible question: “What was the reason
that Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt?”
Answer
in our next SD.
5/18/2015
10:28 AM
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