Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Revelation chapter 11 as we look at The Power of a Witness! As you are turning there let me share with you this story because I believe it shows the mentality of some churches and some Christians and it is causing them to lack the power to be a witness for Christ. We are told:
Peter: This meeting has been called at the request of Matt, John, Tom, and Little Jim. Bart, will you please open with prayer?
Bart: Almighty God, we ask your blessing on all we do and say and earnestly pray that you will see our side as your side. Amen.
Peter: Jesus, we have been following you around for some time, and we are getting a little concerned about the attendance figures. Tom, how many were on the hill yesterday?
Tom: Thirty-seven.
Peter: It’s getting to be ridiculous. You’re going to have to pep things up. We expect things to happen.
John: I’d like to suggest you pull off more miracles. That walking on water bit was the most exciting thing I have ever seen, but only a few of us saw it. If a thousand or so had a chance to witness it, we would have more than we could handle on the hill.
Little Jim: I agree. The healing miracles are terrific, but only a limited really get to see what has happened. Let’s have more water to wine, more fish and chips (it never hurts to fill their stomachs), still more storms, give more signs. This is what the people need.
Peter: Right. And another thing, publicity is essential, and you tell half the people you cure to keep it quiet. Let the word get around.
Matt: I’m for miracles, but I want to have a few stories I can understand. This “Those who have ears to hear, let them hear” business just clouds the issue. You have to make it clear or most of us aren’t going to be able to take anything home.
Tom: We have to do something.
Little Jim: That’s for sure. Attendance has been awful.
Judas: I’d like to say if we are going to continue to meet in this upper room, we ought to do something about the carpet . . .
- Richard K. Wallarab, Christianity Today, January 17, 1979
Folks, it’s not about programs, it’s not about pumping people up, it’s not about formulas, and it’s not even about miracles or the color of the carpet! But it is all about the power of God’s Spirit poured out upon our lives enabling us to do the work that He has called us to do. It was A. W. Tozer who rightly said that if the Holy Spirit were taken out the New Testament church, 90 percent of what they did would come to a screeching halt. But if the Holy Spirit were taken away from the church today, only 10 percent of what it is doing would cease. You see, we are not seeing the same results as the early church because we are not relying on the same power as they did and I pray this morning you will clearly see how important this is!
Here in Revelation chapter 11 John continues to fill in some of the details that will be happening during the Tribulation Period, besides the devastating judgments that God is pouring out. And as he opens up chapter 11 he begins to talk about the temple, which will be rebuilt in Jerusalem during the Tribulation Period and they will restart the temple sacrifices once again. This temple is a false witness of Christ because as the Jews start up the animal and grain sacrifices, they will continue to negate the perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world!
Then John speaks of two witnesses of Jesus Christ, true witnesses of the Lord who go forth to spread the Gospel message or the Good News and that is where we will pick-up our study this morning in Revelation chapter 11, beginning in verse 3 as we look at The Power of a Witness!
As I said on Thursday, I believe with 100% confidence that one of the witnesses is Elijah, for we are told in Malachi 4:5-6, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” And I personally believe the other witness is Moses. You see, they represent the Law and the Prophets and for 1,260 days or 3½ years of the 7-year Tribulation Period they will minister the Gospel of Jesus Christ and out of their witness we see the fruit that is born. And I believe that fruit is the salvation of the 144,000 Jewish witnesses that are sealed by God for protection so they can minister to the lost during this period of time!
Now these two witnesses are similar to the two olive trees or two lampstands spoken of in Zechariah 4:11-14, where we are told, “Then I answered and said to him, ‘What are these two olive trees — at the right of the lampstand and at its left?’ And I further answered and said to him, ‘What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?’ Then he answered me and said, ‘Do you not know what these are?’ And I said, ‘No, my lord.’ So he said, ‘These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.’”
Let me set the stage for what was happening during Zechariah’s day and then I will expound on these verses we just read. The Babylonians took the Southern Kingdom of Judah into captivity in 586 BC, this was their third and final assault upon the city, and it is during this invasion that they destroyed the temple. The reason for this captivity was their idolatry and their refusal to repent and get right with God and thus, for 70 years they were in captivity.
Now they are returning home but just under 50,000 out of the 2 to 3 million who went into captivity made that long journey home. Why did so many remain in Babylon? Because they became comfortable in that lifestyle and thus, why go back home to a land that was devastated by the Babylonians, with a very uncertain future! The walls of the city were broken down. Their homes were destroyed. Even the temple was destroyed. So why go back, what was there for them to return? Simply, this is the land that God wanted His people to live in and yet, only a small group of Jewish people returned home. The others, they just got use to the captivity in Babylon instead of being in the place where God wanted them, the Promise Land!
When they arrived in Jerusalem they set up an altar of sacrifice to worship the Lord by and in the second year they began to lay the foundation stone for the temple. But then came the distraction in the form of opposition to the work and it caused the work to stop for some 15 years. In fact, it took the prophet Haggai to come on the scene and rebuke them for building up their homes and fixing them up while the house of God was neglected, in ruins! They had their priorities wrong.
Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah and Joshua was the high priest. And the people heeded the words of God spoken to them by the prophets of God and the work began once again on the temple. In Haggai 1:12-14 we are told, “Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him; and the people feared the presence of the LORD. Then Haggai, the LORD's messenger, spoke the LORD's message to the people, saying, ‘I am with you, says the LORD.’ So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God.”
Do you see what took place here? The people saw their error, they feared the Lord and they repented of their sin, they got right with God and as they did the Spirit of God fell upon the leaders, the common people, empowering them for the work that was before them. And folks, they not only started the work but they also completed it without any huge resources, without strength, not at all in the power of their flesh but by the Spirit of God coming upon them!
Now that brings us back to those two anointed ones spoken of in Zechariah and they are Zerubbabel and Joshua. What I want you to notice here is that the oil drains from the olive tree into the bowls of these lampstands, keeping them full at all times and thus, enabling them to shine forth brightly. In the Scriptures oil represents the Holy Spirit and I believe the picture here is that there is a continual, abundant supply of the Holy Spirit in their lives, Zerubbabel and Joshua so they can complete the work they were called to do.
It is as we are told in Zechariah 4:6, “ . . . ‘This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” Says the LORD of hosts.’” You see, the work of rebuilding the temple was not going to be accomplished through their power but the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through them! I also see this same power in the lives of these two witnesses here in Revelation chapter 11, Moses and Elijah as they have work to do and finish during the Tribulation Period. And as we saw on Thursday, when their work was completed, they were martyred for their faith! Not one moment too late or too soon, but right on time, as the work was completed!
Folks, that same power God gave to Zerubbabel, Joshua, even the common people, that same power He is going to give the two witnesses there in Revelation chapter 11, is available to every believer today! I do realize that some may disagree with what I am saying and this can be a very controversial subject. But I would encourage you to let the Scriptures speak for themselves and then come to your conclusion based on what the Scriptures say because this power is available to you!
Listen to this story and you will see what I mean on how foolish we are at times, ingenious yes, but our efforts are nothing compared to the power of God’s Spirit working in our lives, the power that God has for us. We are told:
In a seminary mission’s class, Herbert Jackson told how, as a new missionary, he was assigned a car that would not start without a push. After pondering his problem, he devised a plan. He went to the school near his home, got permission to take some children out of class, and had them push his car off. As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. He used this ingenious procedure for two years.
Ill health forced the Jackson family to leave, and a new missionary came to that station. When Jackson proudly began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started, the new man began looking under the hood. Before the explanation was complete, the new missionary interrupted, “Why, Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable.” He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, pushed the switch, and to Jackson’s astonishment, the engine roared to life. For two years needless trouble had become routine. The power was there all the time. Only a loose connection kept Jackson from putting that power to work.
- Ernest B. Beevers
Let me show you why I believe the baptism with the Holy Spirit, this power is for us today and yet, many don’t receive it because they have a loose connection, they don’t believe it is for us today! In John 14:16-17 Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever —the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” Jesus uses two Greek prepositions to describe the Holy Spirit’s work here, and these are very important, as you will see.
Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will be “with” us and He uses the Greek word PARA here. This is the first work of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. You see, one of the ministries you might say of the Holy Spirit is to draw people to Jesus. Then once a person receives Jesus as their Lord and Savior, Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will come “in” us and He uses the Greek word EN. We see Paul speak of this in I Corinthians 12:13 were we are told, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.”
There are two points I would like you to notice here. First of all this is a baptism into the body of Christ, and secondly, it is the Holy Spirit who is doing the baptizing here. Then in Matthew 3:11-12 we see John the Baptist tells us of Jesus, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
First of all the fire spoken of here is not good, it is the fire of judgment, and you can clearly see that as you read the text. But what I want to focus on is this. Jesus is the one who is doing the baptizing here, baptizing us with the Holy Spirit. Now if we are already baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ when the Holy Spirit indwells us, and this occurs at the time of our salvation, then what is this baptism all about?
That is a great question and we have looked at two of the three Greek prepositions used of the Holy Spirit, and the third one will help answer this question for us. After the death and resurrection of Jesus He spent some 40 days showing Himself to many people and before He ascended into Heaven, He said in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Here is the third Greek preposition that is used of the Holy Spirit, “upon” or EPI in the Greek. The Lord is saying that He will empower believers with the Holy Spirit and the Greek word that He uses for “power” is DUNAMIS from which we get our English words “dynamic” and “dynamite”. In other words, Jesus wants to give to us that explosive power to be witnesses of Him!
Now some may argue that Jesus is speaking of being saved here, but again, the Holy Spirit does that and Jesus is doing the baptizing here. I truly believe the disciples were already New Testament saints. Can I prove that? I believe I can from the Scriptures. You see, in John 20:21-22, after the death and resurrection of Jesus, He appears to His men and we are told, “So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” You see, something happened here and I believe that the Holy Spirit that was with them was now in them, they were saved! In fact, Luke 24:49 seals this up for me, showing me this is something different than what Jesus was saying in Acts 1:8. We are told in Luke, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” It is the promise of the Father; it is the Holy Spirit coming upon a believer to empower them for the work that they are to do!
So they are saved in John chapter 20, they had the tools to be witnesses of Christ, they were just lacking the power to run those tools and I believe we see that take place in Acts chapter 2 as 120 of His disciples, including Peter, are in the upper room praying and the Holy Spirit comes upon them and empowers them to be witnesses of Jesus!
Think about it, the church went from 120 people to over 3,000 with one sermon that lasted a few minutes. Peter just shared the Gospel message but He did so with the power of the Holy Spirit and that is the reason there was so much fruit! And in Acts chapter 2 Peter links this event to what the prophet Joel spoke about and this was not just for the first century church, for Joel’s prophesy of this outpouring of God’s Spirit lasts until the Lord returns, all the way through the Tribulation Period!
And thus, we have seen the Holy Spirit come alongside people; He is WITH them, PARA in the Greek, drawing them to Jesus. Once they come to Jesus the Holy Spirit is IN them or EN in the Greek. And here in Acts we have seen the empowering of the Holy Spirit upon believer’s lives as the Holy Sprit comes UPON them or EPI in the Greek.
Now I am not speaking of going out and witnessing to people about Jesus, not that we shouldn’t do that, but that is not the idea here. The Greek word for “witness” is MARTUS and from it we get our English word “martyr” from. You see, I believe the point here is that witnessing is not something you do but it is something you are! It is living out your faith and as you do people will see that your faith is real and be drawn to Christ!
What happens in our life as the Holy Spirit comes upon us? Well, we don’t act goofy, barking like dogs, laughing uncontrollably and-so-on. No, what happens as the Holy Spirit comes upon us is that we will become witnesses of Jesus, not a command, but a simple fact, a way of life! Jesus said, “ . . . you shall be witnesses of Me . . .” (Acts 1:8) and that is what will flow from your life as you live for Him!
Let me explain this by giving you this simple and yet, powerful example. Sir Henry Stanley said this of David Livingstone after discovering and spending time with him in Central Africa. No, not “Dr. Livingstone I presume!” But this is what he did say of this man of God. “If I had been with him any longer I would have been compelled to be a Christian, and he never spoke to me about it at all.” You see, Livingstone’s witness went far beyond words, he lived what he believed and so should we, but we can’t accomplish that on our own, we need the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives!
Many in the church today are trying to bring social reform to our nation and they are trying to do it by the laws that are passed, the people that are voted into our government and-so-on. I am sorry to say those are futile efforts and you will not see the changes you want to see if that is what you are going to do. Look, we have had a Christian man in the White House for over 6 years now and do you see bountiful fruit from that? I don’t, not that I am not glad we have a Christian President, but I am not looking to him for the solutions to our problems!
Let me show you what we need to do to see changes, bountiful changes in this country from an example that took place back in the revivals of the eighteenth-century with Charles and John Wesley. During that period of time there were problems of slavery, inhumane treatment in the prisons, liquor trafficking, poor education and-so-on. Things were not good. And by the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through people things changed for the better and not by the passing of laws. In fact, many believe it was this revival that spared England from the French Revolution! You see, moral reform or the attempts at it have never brought about spiritual revival; but spiritual revival always brings about moral reform! That is what needs to happen!
Back in the nineteenth century many Western missionaries ministered to the people of China and for some 100 years they spread the Gospel message and saw about 800,000 converts. But then the communist revolution took place and Mao Tse-tung threw out the Westerners, the missionaries were gone and what was going to happen to the church in China?
It was not easy to be a believer back then in China, many were tortured for their faith, many Chinese Christians were put to death. And, of course, their churches were closed an their Bibles confiscated. What was going to happen to the church in China? Would it die? They had no strength, no power, and no resources of their own. Many Western Christians felt the church in China could not survive the intense persecution they were facing!
After 40 years of communist rule, of intense persecution, many wondered how they fared with almost none of the resources we consider essential. But when Western Christians were allowed back into China they were astonished. The church did not die but it grew and not just a little. The church had flourished to over 75 million converts! But how did they survive? By the power of God’s Spirit working in them and through them and they didn’t have much, but they didn’t need much. God supplied all they needed and they grew, there was much fruit! You see, this shows me that the power of the first century church is still available to us today!
Do you want to move this world for Jesus? Do you want to see people saved? I know, you are just one person and we are just a few people here. We don’t have much resources or strength, can it really be done? Folks, listen to what a few men did through the power of God’s Spirit working in them and through them. Remember Paul and Silas in Thessalonica, and the Jews that rejected their message had this to say of these two men, “ . . . ‘These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.’” Acts 17:6. They didn’t do this in their own power but by the power of God’s Spirit being poured out upon their lives!
You see, you can do it, not by your own might or strength or power but by the power of God’s Spirit coming upon you and empowering you for service. It is as Vance Havner said, “We are not going to move this world by criticism of it nor conformity to it, but by the combustion within our lives ignited by the Spirit of God.” I agree!
Folks, the power of God’s Spirit coming upon our lives is not to draw attention to us but to point people to Jesus, to move the Gospel message forward, to be witnesses of Him! I’ve used this illustration before, but it truly drives home the point of what we are talking about here because many have the wrong idea about the Spirit of God empowering people. I think this is very easy to understand. Think of it like this, the steam in a steam locomotive is not there to toot the whistle, even though it can and it does sound cool. The sounding of the whistle doesn’t do anything but draw attention to the locomotive. The steam in a steam locomotive is there to move the train down the track to reach its destination. Folks, that is exactly what the empowering of the Holy Spirit upon our lives is all about! It is to move the Gospel message forward, to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, and not to draw attention to us and what we are doing!
Here in Revelation chapter 11, as you look at these two witnesses empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, they are not going to let anything get in their way from completing the task, they are not going to let anything stop them from completing the work, they are not going to let anything distract them from sharing the Gospel message, for as Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’” Romans 1:16-17.
D. L. Moody was challenged as a young man by a wise old Christian gentleman who said, “You know Moody – the world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to him.” Moody’s response was, “I will try my utmost to be that man.” What about you? You see, to be empowered by God’s Spirit is not done by some formula but by asking and believing by faith. Yes, people can pray for you to receive this baptizing with the Holy Spirit, and then, like your salvation, you must step out in faith and see what God will do!
Some of you have heard this story before, it is from Greg Laurie’s book, On Fire and I will show you what I mean in regards to the power that can take something that is very weak, and make it very strong and impacting. We are told:
A town somewhere in the U. S. was battered one night by hurricane-force winds. In the morning, after the storm had abated the citizens emerged from their homes and shelters to assess the damage. The power of the storm quickly became clear to one investigator who was dumbfounded by an incredible discovery. Mouths dropped open as people came to check out his report: a common plastic drinking straw driven deep into a telephone pole by the night’s vicious winds. Obviously, under normal circumstances, a flimsy straw could never penetrate a telephone pole. But the tremendous power of the wind had driven the straw into the wood like a spike.
As believers living in an ungodly world, sometimes we wonder if we can ever make a difference. We wonder if we can effectively penetrate our cynical culture with the good news God has given us to proclaim. The answer lies in the source of the power. If we rely on our own strength and methods, then no, we cannot make much of a difference. But if we choose to be driven by God’s limitless power, we become like that straw in the hurricane where nothing can stop us. We can indeed make a dramatic difference.
- Greg Laurie, On Fire, pp. 21-22
Paul, in Ephesians 5:18 exhorts us to, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” In other words, don’t be filled up with the false, that which is artificial, but be filled with the real thing, with the power of God’s Spirit working in your life! In fact, that phrase “be filled with the Spirit” literally means, “be constantly filled with the Spirit.” You see, it is an ongoing process; we need that power in our lives daily. Also, the original Greek in this verse is in the imperative. In other words, God is not suggesting to us that we be filled with the Spirit, He is commanding us to be filled with the Spirit. You see, He wants us to have all the resources that He has made available to us and to use them to move the Gospel message forward, to live lives that are surrendered to Him!
I realize that most of us feel that God can’t use us or won’t use us. We don’t qualify, we don’t have the talent or the time or the resources or the ability or the whatever! You are wrong. Listen carefully to the people God is looking for to work through and use for His glory, to move the Gospel message forward. In II Chronicles 16:9 we are told, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. . . .”
Do you see that? I hope so. Because it is not about us, but about God and what He can do in us and through us. It is as Paul said in I Corinthians 1:25-31, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification and redemption — that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.’” Paul’s point is simple, God has chosen us, the foolish things of this world, to put to shame those who think they are wise and in the end, it is the Lord who gets the glory and not us. You see, we are only the vessel or the instrument that God uses. Thus, may we be available for Him to use!
As I close this morning I am going to do something a little different. I am going to close in prayer, as we normally do, and I am going to have the worship team come up here, as we normally do. But this morning, for those of you who are hungering for this power in your life, I am going to ask you to come up here so I can pray for you to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If you don’t know the Lord, you need Him and I would ask that you also come up so I can pray with you to receive the Lord. And after I pray with you, then you can return to your seat. Maybe some of you can go in back and allow the Sunday School teachers and Nursery workers to come forward if they would like to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Folks, it truly is as Moody was told, “You know Moody – the world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to him.” Moody’s response was, “I will try my utmost to be that man.” Folks, apart from this empowering by God, the empowering of His Spirit upon our lives, we can’t. May we seek that gift that God has for us, the promise of the Father in our lives so that we may be witnesses of Him!