It usually helps me to know going into a reading what the overall theme is that I can wrap my head around. For this section, we are focusing on the state of the Christian church.
We know there's an invisible church of believers that only God can see. There's also a visible church of believers that we can only see with our eyes. We are warned that unbelievers are within the visible church and they will try their best to destroy the beautiful message of full and free forgiveness, distort the truth of Scripture and muddy the waters of law and gospel.
It could be said that the two witnesses are the Law and Gospel personified - though neither the devotion nor the People's Bible go that far. But regardless, these two are the "double-edged" sword we are to use as this "little scroll" is shared throughout the world.
Law and Gospel will be preached to the ends of the earth but will be attacked by many false teachings within the visible church in these last days. This can be seen now when church bodies guide their people to reject the Biblical 6 day creation found in Genesis and other areas of the Bible and embrace evolution! This is seen now when men within the church put their reason above what God reveals in his Word (antichrist) - and slowly chip away at the truth. How about the churches where you can sit through a whole sermon and not here one word about what Jesus has done for us but rather, what we should be doing for Jesus if we're really Christians? These attacks found now can be subtle or extreme but all do the damage that God is talking about here. Verse 10 describes how these blasphemers will think they have won i.e.. "Finally those simpletons have rejected that ridiculous idea of "creation". Not only that but we've managed to get our agenda of evolution and NO GOD in the school system at the youngest level possible!" And they think they've won...
Again we end with the comfort knowing that their time is short and evil is on a leash! He's straight up with us here - yes, it's going to look bad within the church but the invisible church will never go away.
2 comments:
While sometimes reading The People's Bible (TPB) commentary along with these devotions leads to a fixation on details and getting bogged down in them, in this case, I found that the commentary answered questions, bringing me comfort and insight rather than bogging me down.
Some quotes I found particularly comforting/illuminating:
"The picture of the two olive trees is taken from Zechariah's vision (Zech 4:1-7). In that vision, God made it clear that his will on search would be done 'not by might nor by power, but by [his] Spirit' (4:6). The success of the witness of his church lies in the power of God's message, not in his messengers." - a good thing for Christians to remember always!
When verse 4 talked about fire coming from the mouths of the witnesses and destroying their enemies, my mind turned (as it always wants to) to the physical world. TPB commentary brought me back to the spiritual realm, though. "The fire that comes from the mouths of the witnesses is the message of God's judgment on those who do not believe."
When I read verses 7-10, again, I was imagining actual people being killed; but TPB brought me back to the spiritual message of these verses.
First, a minor detail - It says that what the NIV translates as "figuratively" (when talking about the great city being called Sodom and Egypt) in the Greek is literally "in a spiritual sense." Sodom and Egypt were known for refusing God's message and suffering for it. The reference to the place where "their Lord was also crucified" (v8) highlights God's amazing grace in Jesus dying for the sins of "the spiritual Sodomites and Egyptians who persistently resist his gospel" (TPB).
Now, on to TPB's interpretation of the overall message of v7-10: "Satan and his influence through his many spirit and human agents overpower and silence the witnesses."
I found that to be absolutely terrifying - the thought of living in a world where God's word is overpowered and silenced? Where God's word is dead? Oh please God, no!
But then, I was relieved to read: "We cannot say that there will be a time before the end when the Word of God is completely silent. Jesus' promises lead us to believe otherwise (Matthew 24:14, 35). It is better to see the three and a half days as the relatively short time the unrepentant have to gloat before the end comes for all of them."
Thank you, merciful God, for giving us a way to escape your judgment. Thank you for the saving faith in our hearts. Preserve that faith, Heavenly Father. Use us to share the mystery of the gospel with those who do not know you. Thank you for the victory that is already ours. Come quickly so that we can soon see the fullness of that victory come to pass!
Thanks for sharing those quotes that made an impression on you!
Praying with you, dear sister-in-Christ!
Post a Comment