Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
In chapter 11 of “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1), we are introduced to two powerful prophets of God: “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days, clothed in sackcloth” (verse 3). Just as the temple of verses 1-2 is an actual building, these “two witnesses” are actual spokesmen for God in Jerusalem during the Tribulation period. Some have suggested that they are Enoch and Elijah; for neither of them died, and Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” However, a whole generation of Christians will not experience death but will be raptured directly into heaven (I Thessalonians 4:16-18). Others have suggested Elijah and Moses because of their similar ministries associated with fire and drought (verse 5) and blood (verse 6) and because of their presence on the Mount of Transfiguration. This speculative interpretation ignores the fact that Elijah and Moses have already been transfigured. Moreover, the context of Revelation includes the sealing of 144,000 Jewish men to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ (7:1-8; 14:1-5). The anointing of these two unnamed prophets is consistent with God’s anointing of this much larger group. Thus, we see that our Lord will empower two specific Jewish prophets in that day. Jesus calls them “my two witnesses,” indicating that they serve Him faithfully and belong to Him eternally. In the darkest of times and places, our Savior has His remnant – a remnant that exercises an influence that far exceeds its relatively limited numbers.