Corona Chronicles - Crown of Gold

Hello and welcome to the Corona Chronicles. We're about halfway through the book of revelation now and I hope you're enjoying our steady mark through and seeing seeing the glory of of Christ and going back in time, thinking what's happening in our time, thinking what will happen in future times, Everything is being revealed to us in this in this scroll. And we're in chapter 11 now and we're gonna read the first the first 6 verses. I was given a read like a measuring rod and was told go and measure the temple of God and the altar with his worshipers. But exclude the outer court.

Do not measure it because it has been given to the gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. And I will appoint my 2 witnesses and they will prophesy for 1260 days clothed in sackcloth. They are the 2 olive trees and the 2 lampstands and they stand before the lord of the earth. If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours them, their enemies.

This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying. And they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. So we're we're we're back into some pretty amazing imagery here. Yeah.

And this reads a bit like the greatest hits in the old testament. Think that there is so much imagery here from Daniel and from Ezekiel and from Exadus, you know, it's just drawing together these great bible books and bible themes to describe what is going on. And as I said in the introduction, it seems like with revelation you you you have to go back and then you have to go forward and then you have to think about the present time. And it seems that we're we're now back considering the church on earth. After seeing some pretty amazing scenes of the future.

We were back to the church. What is happening with the church? And all this stuff about measuring, which which is drawn really from ezekiel. I think it's designed to say that God knows his church. Like he he has measured his church.

He is sovereign over them. He knows in what situation they find themselves He knows how many people make it up. He knows each individual saint, each individual congregation all over the world. And what's happening to them, a bit like what we saw in the in the letters to the churches early on. And that that is a great encouragement, isn't it?

Yeah. But You know, those who are struggling with coronavirus in this nation and around the world, those who are being persecuted that again, God has measured them out. He he knows them how many of his people that that there are, which which is good, isn't it? Mhmm. Yeah.

It's and that they're being trampled on here aren't they? But it's only for 42 months. So again, I mean, God's kindness to us that it just again and again says it's only for a time. Yes. It's for a set period.

Yeah. It's not gonna be forever. And then we see these 2 witnesses who prophesying for 1260 days. And they're described as the 2 lampstands. And early in Revelation, we saw Jesus walking among the lampstand.

A 7 lampstand. So these these are this is the church in a sense. They are God's people. And they are prophesying and what what we really like from this is that anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. So they if they're if they're doing God's work and they are elected as God's people to do his his work, then they're going to do his work.

Mhmm. Christ's church will be built. Yes. Building his church. And they, yeah, people won't be able to to stop it -- Yeah.

-- happening. Yeah. And although, I mean it sounds like the power we would quite like to have, doesn't it? You know, to give it a brief fire -- Yeah. -- to turn into sort of dragons, you know, upon the earth.

Mhmm. You know, we mustn't get that imagery wrong. This is not saying really that we as individual Christians are to be to be doing these things, but It's all tied up with the message that the church has been given, isn't it? As you were saying that -- Yeah. -- as we proclaim the gospel, Jesus built his church.

And the proclamation of the gospel is a kind of judgment, isn't it, upon upon the world and that these plagues and these shutting up at the heavens it's to say really that as the gospel is proclaimed, God does great things, you know, amazing things happen for his glory. There is judgment on the enemies, but there is gathering in of Saints and all of that is done through the message that he he has entrusted us trusted us with. And it's a message of repent isn't it? Yes. Because here they are clothing sackcloth, which was at what you did sort of in old testament days to show kind of visibly demonstrate your sorrow for your sin.

Mhmm. And sometimes the nation's sin because it would be the whole nation together, wouldn't And and what they're trying to do as with all of this is is is trying to get people to repent and come back, you know. The waves of these judgments that we've seen in the last few chapters are warnings that a greater judgment is coming. Mhmm. And it's giving people an opportunity to repent, isn't it?

Mhmm. So that's what the church is doing here. It is That's really helpful, isn't it as well? Because it shows that we're you know, it's not like, you know, we're we're the perfect ones, you know God chose us because we're better than everyone else. Yeah.

You know, we are. We're all sinners. Yeah. And as you say, we're wearing this sackcloth because we we we have repented ourselves and want to proclaim a message of repentance of self humbling. And trusting in Christ.

And that that's what we're all about. That's our witness and our testimony, isn't it? So so it is you know, when you read it, you think goodness, all these numbers and images, but actually, it it's just it's just an apocalyptic way, isn't it of saying? God is sovereign. He knows his people.

He knows his enemies. The persecution is under control. The growth of the church is under control. And therefore we can just keep keep preaching and keep testifying to Jesus. And yeah, so that that's something it perhaps to take away today.

To to rejoice that God is sovereign, that persecution can go this far but no further, and we're to live and to speak this message of repentance which will do wonders in the world for the glory of God. And we're gonna we're gonna dive further into this into this picture tomorrow.