This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day three together of our look through Revelation chapter 11. We're
going to focus on verses 11 to 14 today. And in these verses we're going to hear
the end of the story of what happened with these two witnesses.

Yesterday, you remember that they finished the end of their testimony and then a
beast out of the abyss was allowed to come against them and actually killed
them. And they were put in the streets and they were ridiculed, even their dead
bodies. That is not the end of the story of these servants of God.

Listen to what happens in verses 11 to 14. But after the three and a half days,
a breath of life from God entered them and they stood on their feet and terror
struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to
them, "Come up here.

" And they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies looked on. At that
very hour, there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed.
Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake.

And the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second
woe has passed. The third woe is coming soon.

Now before we get into these witnesses, that last verse, what are these three
woes? The three woes in the midst of these three sevens. The three woes are the
last three trumpets when judgment begins to come upon people.

And remember the last trumpet contains the seven bowls of judgment. So this is
really the three woes are the end of the end, the end of this world. Woe upon
those who were trusting in this world in those days.

And these verses focuses on what happened to these two witnesses. And in a word,
resurrection. These two witnesses, people were celebrating the fact that they
had died.

And a breath of God struck them and they stood up. Now I want you to know when
God's breath strikes you, he brings life to you. So they did not stand up as
some kind of zombie.

That would be sort of scary. No, they stood up, resurrected. These two
witnesses, just as Jesus was resurrected in Jerusalem, these two witnesses are
real resurrected in this moment.

They've been dead three and a half days and all of a sudden they're alive. And
when they are resurrected, the entire earth shakes. The great earthquake that
happened in Jerusalem in that time.

It's very specific. Seven thousand are killed in this. Seven thousand is a
number of perfection that we see often in the book of Revelation.

But this seems very specific here. Events that are unfolding and happening
happens in such a clear way that even those who are not followers of God are
giving glory to God in this moment. They realize that God has done something.

Some are going to turn their hearts to him, most are not. You can give glory to
God, realize that God is real without turning to God personally. But these
verses give every reason to turn to him.

The breath of life from God brings resurrection. And what these verses say to
me, what they remind me of is this. The end of the story is resurrection.

The end of the story of our life on this earth is resurrection for those who are
believers. Let me just walk through this with you. The end of the story of
Jesus' life, resurrection.

Jesus lived his life on this earth. He served us. He gave himself for us.

He worked miracles. He was taken to a cross after being beaten and ridiculed. He
allowed himself to be hung on that cross and gave his life for us on that cross.

He was put in a tomb. And some people thought that's the end of the story, the
silence of that tomb. That Jesus' story was the story of a fine teacher, a fine
martyr.

That is not the end of the story. The end of the story is resurrection. The end
of the story is what happens three days later when Jesus is resurrected as our
living Lord.

Never think that the end of the story is martyrdom. The end of the story is
resurrection. The end of the story is resurrection also in the story of the
church's suffering in this world.

The church is now the body of Christ in this world. And churches all over this
world and all throughout history have suffered for their faith. There are so
many who have been persecuted.

There are so many who have been ridiculed. There are so many who have been
ignored, shuttled off to the side as if their faith meant nothing. As you look
at the story of the church of Jesus Christ, one way you could look at the story
is that it's a great story of how those who have been ridiculed and persecuted
and ignored have persevered.

That the end of the story of the church of the body of Jesus Christ is a story
of perseverance. Isn't it wonderful how the church has persevered down through
the ages? That is a part of the story of the church, but it is not the end of
the story.

The end of the story of the body of Christ in this world, of the church of Jesus
Christ, the end of the story is resurrection. That is the hope that we look
forward to. You never live as if we just persevere.

We persevere with a hope that we're looking forward to. We persevere towards
resurrection. The body of Christ will be resurrected to be with him as the
children of God, sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus
Christ, celebrating with him throughout all of eternity.

That's the end of the story. The end of the story of Jesus' life, resurrection.
The end of the story of these two witnesses, resurrection.

The end of the story of the church's life in this world, resurrection. And the
end of the story of your life in this world, the end of the story is
resurrection. As you look at your life, as you look at the story of your life,
as you've seen it unfold, I don't know how it's unfolded.

You may look at the story and think it's a story of success. Wonderful things
have happened in my family. Great things have happened in my business.

Oh, we've been through some ups and downs, but overall it's really a story of
success. The end of the story of your life is success? No, it's much more than
that.

The end of the story of your life is resurrection. The successes that you've had
in this world, the blessings from God, those are wonderful things. But that is
not the end of the story.

You don't hold on to that as if that's your legacy, that's all you have. Your
legacy is your resurrection, because that is what we look forward to more than
anything else. You may look at the story of your life in this world and it may
be very different.

If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you know you love him, but you've seen
anything but success. Business failures, rejection by those you have tried to
love and have not loved you back, ministry that has not gone as well as you
would have loved it to go, not being recognized for even those few brief moments
where you've sent some measure of success but no one was there to notice. Maybe
you look at your life and say, well, the end of the story of my life, it's a
tragic story.

The end of my story is tragedy. It is not. The end of your story is
resurrection.

That is the end of the story of your life in this world and whatever struggles
you've been through, whatever persecutions you've faced, whatever people have
said about you, whatever mistakes you have made, sins you have committed even,
that is not the identifier of your life. That is not the end of the story in
your life. What I love about these two witnesses is that they remind us of the
end of the story.

You can read about it in 1 Corinthians 15. You can read about it in 1
Thessalonians chapter 4. You can read about it in the book of Revelation.

The end of the story for the life of the believer is resurrection. Let's just
praise him now. Thank you, Jesus, that your resurrection, as the Bible tells us,
it was the first fruits.

It was the first sign of the fact that you're going to resurrect all those who
are yours. And we thank you that whatever we face in this world, nothing can
dash that hope. Nothing can quench that hope.

Nothing can take that hope from us. The end of the story is resurrection. Help
us to live with the end in mind today.

Help us to live towards that end today. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
Join us tomorrow.

We're going to look together at the praise song in verses 15 to 18.