The God who condemns the ungodly
"And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell on the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry,, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth.
And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them and they stood upon their feet: and great fear fell upon them that saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them come up hither and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven." Revelation 11v9-13
We consider this very interesting but solemn portion of God's word under three headings:
- World rejection of the testimony of God. We have already seen in Revelation that the word "earth dwellers" refers to those who have no time or regard for God. Their consequent depravity reaches a very low level in this story. They rejoice over their death; they make merry, and send gifts to one another. They throw a party, they create another Christmas in exchanging gifts because these two witnesses are dead. The witnesses testified to them of the truth of God; their interpretation of it was that they tormented them. When someone telling the truth becomes a torment, human depravity knows no depth. They set them out in public, openly, for all to see, they involved the entire world in this depraved spectacle "peoples and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies." No doubt this is through mass TV media communication. They left them for three and a half days, because it is a known fact that after this time the bodies begin to stink, no matter how much they are embalmed. They paraded them in public long enough to avoid the stench of death. Here we have a global mocking of the servants of God. Instead of lying in state, as they should have been for their proclamation of the truth, they become the object of the world's scorn and an occasion for mocking and drunkenness and indulgence. This is the attitude of the world to God's servants.
- Divine ratification of their testimony. After three and a half days the spirit of life from God entered into them and they stood up in view of the whole world. Here God demonstrates His mighty power to the watching world by raising these men from the dead as they watched. Never in the course of human history did TV viewing figures reach such a level! Suddenly the watching world, who were partying and rejoicing, were filled with fear, and as they watched they heard a great voice from heaven saying "come up hither." So not only is there a public resurrection there is a public ascension to heaven and it says "their enemies beheld them."
- Divine retribution on the enemies of God. The same hour (that is the same hour when the two witnesses were caught up to heaven), there came a great earthquake and one tenth part of the city fell. Jerusalem, the city of God, had become spiritually Sodom & Egypt (a place of uncontrolled lust and a place of rank idolatry). ; but Jerusalem is also the place where our Lord was crucified (verse 8) and God will now bring to fruition the fruits of Calvary. Seven thousand people died in the earthquake and those remaining were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. Every time in scripture we read of the phrase "the God of heaven" it refers to a time when God has rejected earth. The phrase "giving glory to God" does not automatically mean conversion, but, at least, instead of mocking God and His servants they could not deny the visible display of supernatural power before their very eyes.
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