The Two Witnesses

[0:00] Well, if we could, this evening, with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that portion of scripture that we read, Revelation chapter 11.

[0:16] Revelation chapter 11, and if we read again from the beginning. Revelation 11 from the beginning. Then I, John, was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple.

[0:42] Leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth, and so on.

[1:07] One of my favourite TV programmes is, maybe you watch it, maybe you don't watch it, maybe you don't like it at all. It's a British crime drama called Silent Witness.

[1:19] If you've watched it, you'll know that it's about a team of forensic pathologists who investigate various crimes by extracting all the evidence, not only from the crime scene, but also from the dead victim.

[1:32] And by analysing all the evidence, the dead victim, as the title suggests in the programme, the dead victim actually becomes the silent witness to solving the whole crime.

[1:44] It's a fascinating programme. But you know, every time I watch Silent Witness, I'm reminded, even by the title, of what we are not to be as Christians.

[1:56] We are not to be a silent witness for Jesus Christ. We're not to be like a dead corpse that does nothing and says nothing about their Saviour.

[2:08] We're not to be a silent witness. We're to be speaking witnesses. Because Jesus, as you know, Jesus has called us, commissioned us and commanded us, saying as he did to his disciples in Acts chapter 1, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

[2:23] So the Holy Spirit has come upon us. You shall be my witnesses from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth. So we are not to be silent witnesses.

[2:35] We're to be speaking witnesses. We are to be, as Peter said, we are to always be ready to give an answer for the reason, for the hope that is within us.

[2:46] We're not to be silent witnesses. But as you know, it's not easy to be a witness for Jesus. None of us find it easy to be a witness for Jesus, especially when there are obstacles and there's lots of opposition to the gospel.

[3:02] And yet what we see here in Revelation chapter 11 is that it should encourage us here that there are two witnesses that are always testifying to the power of the gospel in the church of Jesus Christ.

[3:15] So in Revelation chapter 11, we have two witnesses which always testify to the power of the gospel in the church of Jesus Christ.

[3:26] And I want us to consider these two witnesses this evening. They were mentioned, first of all, there in verse 3. These my two witnesses. And I want us to think about these two witnesses by thinking about the measurements, the message and the martyrdom of these two witnesses.

[3:43] The measurements, the message and the martyrdom of these two witnesses. So first of all, the measurements for the witnesses, the measurements for the witnesses.

[3:57] We see that in verse 1, John says, I was given a measuring rod like a staff and I was told, rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there.

[4:08] But do not measure the court outside the temple. Leave that out for it is given over to the nations and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.

[4:21] As you know, the book of Revelation, it's one long revelation. It's a revelation from Jesus Christ, about Jesus Christ. It's for the church of Jesus Christ. It's overall message to us, as you know, is stop looking inwards, start looking upwards.

[4:37] Because Jesus Christ has been gloriously revealed to us as the risen, ruling and reigning king who is one day going to return. And in this last section that we've been working our way through, we've seen seven angels with seven trumpets.

[4:54] And these seven angels with seven trumpets, they have revealed the warning of God's divine and definite judgment to come. The first four angels, we saw them in a previous chapter, they were grouped together to give us this scene of terror.

[5:10] Then the fifth angel announced the first woe, revealing Satan, who was the fallen star of the bottomless pit. And then the sixth angel announced the second woe.

[5:20] But as we mentioned, the second woe, it's a longer section than any other section. It extends all the way from, as we saw earlier, from chapter 9 and verse 13, all the way through chapter 10, which we looked at last week, until we come to chapter 11 and verse 14.

[5:40] And it says there, And as we saw in chapter 9, the section about the second woe began with the souls and supplications of the suffering saints requesting for four demons to be released.

[5:58] Because these demons, as we were told, they have been prepared to ultimately take unrepentant sinners to hell. Then as we saw last week in chapter 10, we saw that chapter 10 actually forms an important interlude to this, what is quite a heavy and quite a harrowing section about seven angels and seven trumpets.

[6:19] Chapter 10, as we saw it, provides a portrait and a picture of a large saviour and a little scroll. A large saviour and a little scroll. The large saviour, of course, was Jesus, who has come to redeem, restore and renew his fallen creation, because he has all authority in heaven and on earth.

[6:39] And then we saw the little scroll. The little scroll was the Bible, because as we said, the Greek word for scroll here, or book, as it is in the authorised version, it's the word biblion, which is where we get our word Bible from.

[6:53] But during that important interlude, you remember that John is told to eat the scroll. He's to devour the Bible, devour the book.

[7:04] He's to read it and digest it. Because when he does, it will be sweet as honey in his mouth, but bitter in his belly. Which is a reminder to us that we're not only called to be hearers of God's word, we're to be doers also.

[7:19] We're not just to receive information, we're also to make sure that it's applied in our lives. It's to be information and application. But it's often the application that makes God's word bitter in our belly.

[7:36] It's often the application, because applying God's word is always very difficult. That's what makes it bitter in our belly. But you know, chapter 10, it really is an important interlude.

[7:47] It's this advert, as we described it, not an annoying advert, but an important interlude, because it prepares us for what is going to take place in chapter 11. As the advert comes to an end and the revelation resumes.

[8:02] Verse 1. Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there.

[8:13] So in Revelation chapter 11, John is handed something. He's given a measuring rod like a staff. That's what we're told. If you're using the authorized version, you'll see that what John is handed is described as a reed.

[8:31] Not a grass reed, but a measuring reed, which was a long staff, or a long stick, you could say, that was a particular length.

[8:41] It was a specific length. Just like a metre stick. I'm sure you all remember metre sticks. I don't know if they still have them in schools nowadays, but whenever you held up a metre stick in a classroom, you always knew exactly the length of the stick, because it was called a metre stick.

[8:57] The same was true of a measuring reed. You always knew the length of the stick, because it was a measuring reed. And a measuring reed was a long stick or a long staff, and it was used as a measuring tool, just like the measuring stick.

[9:13] And the reed, it measured six cubits in length. It measured six cubits in length. And we're told that, actually, in an Old Testament book, in the book of Ezekiel.

[9:27] Because like John here, Ezekiel in chapter 40, the prophet there, he's given a vision of the new temple. And what he sees is a man measuring the temple with a measuring reed, the same tool.

[9:43] And, of course, both Ezekiel and John's visions, they're not of a physical temple, they're of a spiritual temple, because there was no physical temple at the time in their day.

[9:55] The temple had been destroyed. In Ezekiel's day, the temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians. And then in John's day, the temple was destroyed by the Romans.

[10:06] And so both these visions, whether here in Revelation 11 or in Ezekiel 40, they're visions of a spiritual temple. And in both cases, a measuring rod is used to measure the temple.

[10:19] Now, as we said, a measuring reed, it's a long stick, it's a long staff, that was six cubits in length. Now, a cubit, if you remember when we did the tabernacle, a cubit was the distance from your elbow, depending on the length of your arm.

[10:34] If you're David McMillan, your elbow will be quite long. But from your elbow to the tip of your finger, which on average is about one and a half feet, you could say 18 inches, 45 centimetres.

[10:46] And so a reed, which is six cubits, so six times 45 centimetres, two metres 70, or 108 inches, or you could say it's nine feet long.

[11:01] So nine foot long. Imagine a gate, most gates for cattle are 10 feet. So we just cut a foot off. That's how long a reed was.

[11:11] A measuring reed was a long shaft, a long staff, that defined and distinguished a particular measurement. Now, when you look at Scripture, and use Scripture to interpret Scripture, and also see where else this is mentioned, you remember when the Roman soldiers of Pilate, when they mocked Jesus, they stripped him of his clothes, they put a purple robe on him, they twisted thorns and put a crown of thorns on his head, and then they handed him a reed.

[11:45] They put a reed in his right hand, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. What's more, we're told in the following verses, is that they then took the reed from Jesus, and then struck him with it.

[11:56] So they struck Jesus with a nine foot stick, a reed. More than that, we're told later in the Gospels, that in order to emphasize just how high Jesus was lifted up, or suspended in the air as he was crucified at Calvary, Matthew and Mark, they tell us that when Roman soldiers filled a sponge with sour wine, in order to reach Jesus' mouth, which was suspended right in the air, they had to put it on a nine foot reed.

[12:33] But here Jesus, in chapter 11 of Revelation, Jesus, as you know, he's not been crucified. He's commanding John. He's issuing a command to John, and he's saying to John, as we read there in verse one, Then I was given a measuring rod, like a staff, and I was told, Rise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those who worship there.

[12:56] But do not measure the court outside the temple. Leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.

[13:07] Now in his commentary, Joel Beakey, this is what he writes, he says, It is critical, it is critical that we interpret these verses rightly.

[13:21] And you might think, well, why these verses out of all the verses in the book of Revelation? But he says, It is critical that we interpret these verses rightly, for our interpretation will influence our understanding of the entire book of Revelation.

[13:37] So it's critical we understand these and interpret these verses rightly, because our interpretation will influence our understanding of the entire book of Revelation.

[13:50] And Joel Beakey said that because there are three different views on these verses. There are three different views on these opening verses of Revelation 11. There's what's called the preterist view, the futurist view, or the symbolic view.

[14:07] The preterist view, the futurist view, or the symbolic view. Now I'm not going to go into the detail of all these views, because, well, you'd be here till Christmas. Honestly, you would be.

[14:18] When you start reading it, you just get so bogged down in it. But just to say, just to give you a flavor, the preterist view is the least accepted view. It claims that all prophecies in Scripture, including the book of Revelation, that they were fulfilled before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, which can't be true, because the book of Revelation wasn't written until over 25 years later, 95 AD.

[14:48] So the preterist view is out the window. The second view is the futurist view, which is based upon a dispensationalist understanding of the Bible, that there are different dispensations that take place throughout history.

[15:02] Where dispensationalists, they believe that this chapter is speaking of a literal temple. And that for Christ to return, to save his people, the temple must, a physical temple, must be rebuilt in Jerusalem on Mount Zion.

[15:22] But as you know, if you go to Jerusalem today, there's a mosque on Mount Zion, on the holy site. There's a mosque there at present. And what's more is that Jesus prophesied that the temple would be destroyed, not rebuilt, because people would be distracted by the temple.

[15:41] They would be distracted by the temple and take their eyes off the fact that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was enough and that his atoning death was sufficient. Therefore, the biblical view, the reformed view, as I would say, the reformed view of this passage is the symbolic view.

[16:01] which is what we've emphasized and explained throughout the whole book of Revelation. That's why it's so important to understand these verses and the rest of the book. That the book of Revelation is full of signs and symbolism.

[16:14] And so when King Jesus, the risen, ruling, and reigning king, is going to return, when he tells John that he's to take his measuring reed and measure the whole temple and those who worship there, John is instructing, being instructed to measure the church of Jesus Christ because we are the temple.

[16:32] We are the temple. Not a physical temple, but a spiritual temple. That's why Peter, in 1 Peter, he talks about being, we are living stones.

[16:45] Paul said to the church in Corinth, he said, Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you?

[17:01] Therefore, when John is told, only measure the inside of the temple, that's what we're told there, only measure the inside of the temple and not to measure those outside the temple, he's been told to measure those who are in Christ and not those who are out of Christ because it's those who are in Christ, they are God's temple with whom God's spirit dwells.

[17:28] So we are, as Paul says, God's temple and God's spirit dwells in you. So John has been encouraged, measure those who are in Christ, those who are God's temple in whom God's spirit dwells.

[17:43] Which brings us to consider, secondly, the message of these witnesses, the message of these witnesses. So there's the measurements of these witnesses, verses one and two, then the message from these witnesses.

[17:55] The message from these witnesses, look at verse three. He says, I will grant authority to my two witnesses. This thing's annoying me tonight, I'm just going to take it off. It's really annoying me.

[18:06] I want to, he says, I will grant authority to my two witnesses and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

[18:20] And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. They have the power to shut the sky that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying.

[18:34] And they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they desire. Now, when it comes to this passage, we're not to get distracted by the period of 42 months and the 1,260 days because they're actually referring to the same period of time.

[19:02] 42 months, if you work it out, it's roughly 1,260 days. It's three and a half years. But the number isn't what's significant. It's the fact that they're both referring to a specific period of time and also the same period of time.

[19:20] And, you know, in my mind, the period of time to which they're referring is the period in which the gospel of God's grace is preached and proclaimed to the world. It's a period of time into which the gospel of God's grace is preached and proclaimed to the world.

[19:37] And it's a specific period because it's not going to last forever. The period in which the gospel of God's grace is preached and proclaimed, as you know, it will one day come to an end.

[19:49] So there's a time frame in which this gospel is preached and proclaimed. So what's the message of these two witnesses? What is the message?

[20:01] And there are two witnesses, not just one. Because as our Bible repeatedly emphasizes, as you see it throughout different parts of the Bible, it explains to us that every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

[20:17] Therefore, these witnesses, there's two of them, in order to affirm the message, in order to assert the message. And it's an important message that needs to be delivered.

[20:28] And the gravity of their message is expressed by their clothing. You look at verse 3. I will grant authority to my two witnesses. They will prophesy for 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth.

[20:46] As you know, you can tell a lot about someone by what they're wearing or not wearing, as the case may be just now. But we're told that these witnesses, they were both dressed in black.

[20:58] They were both dressed in black sackcloth, the colour of mourning. It's a colour we still wear to wakes and funerals in order to express sadness and sorrow.

[21:10] It's the colour of mourning. And that's what these two witnesses are. They're an expression of the need to sorrow over sin. The two witnesses, they're a picture of repentance.

[21:23] Because it's only those who truly mourn and sorrow over sin that will find comfort in the gospel of God's grace. Is that what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount?

[21:34] Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Therefore, the message of the two witnesses is a message of repentance.

[21:46] The message of the two witnesses is a message of repentance. And as you can see, even Jesus, he's the one who preached and proclaimed that message of repentance.

[21:58] Jesus preached and proclaimed throughout his ministry, repent and believe in the gospel. Repent and believe in the gospel. What's more is that in verse four, we read that the two witnesses, they're like two olive trees and two lampstands, which is this image, another image.

[22:19] It's all symbolic. It's all images and illustrations. And this image and illustration in verse four is of a permanent and perpetual light coming from these two witnesses.

[22:32] So it's a permanent and perpetual light from these two witnesses. Because as you know, olive trees, they produce olive oil and old lampstands, they run on olive oil.

[22:44] Therefore, olive trees for olive oil lamps, they will never run dry. If you have a tree that can produce something to be burned, it'll never run dry.

[22:55] So it's an image and illustration of perpetual light. This permanence of light coming from these two witnesses. The light of the gospel of God's grace is coming from these two witnesses.

[23:09] And the message of the gospel of God's grace is simply repent and believe in the gospel. And what's remarkable about this message by the olive trees and the two lampstands is that the message will not dwindle or diminish.

[23:25] It will not weaken and become watered down. It's an unchanging and unmoving message. So what are the two witnesses? Who are these two witnesses that continually present a perpetual light and a permanent light?

[23:47] Who are these two witnesses that never dwindle or never diminish? Who are these witnesses who remain unchanged and unmovable? Well, I believe that the two witnesses are God's Spirit and God's Word.

[24:00] God's Spirit and God's Word are the two witnesses. Because like faithful and true witnesses, God's Spirit and God's Word, they both testify to the message of the gospel.

[24:14] In fact, they go together. You can't have one without the other. You cannot have God's Spirit without God's Word. As you know, God's Word is, it's inspired by God's Spirit.

[24:27] God's Word is breathed out by God's Spirit. Jesus said to the woman of Samaria whom he met at the well, he said, we're to worship the Father in spirit and in truth, the truth of God's Word.

[24:39] More than that, it's by God's Spirit and through God's Word that the gospel is going to be proclaimed to the ends of the earth. It's by God's Spirit through God's Word that the foolishness of preaching actually works.

[24:54] It's by God's Spirit through God's Word that we as sinners are brought to repent and believe in the gospel. And as our catechism teaches us, in that catechism, I forgot as a child, it's by God's Spirit through God's Word that we are effectually called.

[25:11] It's by God's Spirit through God's Word that we are convinced of our sin and misery and enlightened in the knowledge of Christ and have our will renewed and then persuaded and enabled to embrace Jesus Christ as he's freely offered to us in the gospel.

[25:28] You know, these two witnesses that are here clothed in sackcloth for a period of time, they are God's Spirit. and God's Word.

[25:41] They are God's Spirit and God's Word and they perpetually give their light and they will never run out. They continually present the light of the gospel, God's Spirit and God's Word.

[25:58] But what we're shown in verses 5 and 6, if you carry on following it, is that God's Word is holy like fire and God's Word is powerful enough to harm because it's a sharp two-edged sword.

[26:13] Then he uses two illustrations. Like Elijah who prophesied before the people that there would be no rain and like Moses who proclaimed to Pharaoh that the water of the river Nile would be turned into blood, what's been emphasized here is that these two witnesses, there is power in the gospel of God's grace because of the witness of God's Spirit and God's Word.

[26:36] There is power in the gospel of God's grace because of the witness of God's Spirit and God's Word. But you know what I love? And I know time is running out.

[26:49] It always runs out on me. What I love is how the whole Bible fits together. We mentioned this word read or measuring rod as it's there in the ESV.

[27:01] It's where we also get the word canon from and where we refer to our Bible as the canon of Scripture because everything we hear from the pulpit everything we read in other books that are not the Bible everything we do we are to measure it all according to the canon of Scripture because these two witnesses God's Spirit and God's Word they're to set the standard.

[27:33] They are the perpetual light. They're the permanent light. They're to set the standard. They're to define the boundaries of how we live as Christians and even what we follow as Christians.

[27:45] They're to show us the way. They're to measure all our opinions all our doctrine all our theology all our teaching all our preaching the way we worship the way we live our lives it must all be measured by this read.

[27:59] It must all be measured according to the canon of Scripture. You know I often think that we are to be like the people of Berea in Paul's day because even when the great apostle Paul whom everybody knew and everybody had heard of even when Paul preached the gospel to them were told about the people of Berea they searched the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was actually true.

[28:29] They never took it for granted that well Paul said it it must be true. No, no they went back to Scripture and they measured all that they heard according to the canon of Scripture.

[28:43] What's more is that the faithful witnesses of God's Spirit and God's Word they are there to encourage us and even enable us to be faithful witnesses.

[28:55] The witness of God's Spirit and God's Word are to encourage us not to be a silent witness for Jesus but to be speaking witnesses for Jesus. we are to always be ready to give an answer for the reason for the hope that is within us.

[29:09] We have these perpetual lights these permanent lights so we are always to be ready always to be ready to give an answer for the reason of the hope that is within us.

[29:21] But as you know it's not easy to be a witness because there are obstacles there's opposition to the gospel which is why we're reminded lastly in this passage as we see lastly and in conclusion the time has gone we see the martyrdom of the witnesses the martyrdom of the witnesses so there's the measurements of the witnesses the message from the witnesses and then the martyrdom of the witnesses.

[29:45] Now look at verse 7 when they that is the witnesses when they have finished their testimony or witnessing the beast that rises from the bottomless pit Satan will make war on them and conquer them and kill them and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt where their Lord was crucified for three years it says there for three and a half sorry for three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.

[30:34] So as the announcement from the sixth angel comes to its conclusion we're reminded that in this world the beast from the bottomless pit of hell his sole purpose his desire and determination is to ensure that the two witnesses of God's spirit and God's word will be resented by the world ridiculed by the world and ultimately rejected by the world that is his primary purpose to the point that Satan will rejoice it says that's what it says there he will rejoice to watch and witness all the nations of the world resenting these witnesses ridiculing these witnesses and rejecting these witnesses he will rejoice to see the nations of the world resenting ridiculing and rejecting the gospel and we've seen that throughout history but it's never been so present and prevalent as it is in our own day today even how it describes there verse 10 those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them make merry and exchange presents just like you do at Christmas they're that happy about it because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth and you know

[31:59] I don't think we realise the hatred people have towards Christ and the gospel I don't think we understand it I don't think we appreciate it people want to rejoice to see the gospel being resented and ridiculed and rejected but verse 11 but but but but after three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them the resurrected and they stood up on their feet and great fear fell on 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 and their enemies watched them and at that hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven the second woe has passed behold the third woe is soon to come and you know what you see by the time you reach verse 14 is that

[33:05] John was told to measure the temple because there's going to be periods in history and places in the world where it seems that the church is dead and buried there are going to be periods in history and places in the world where it will seem that the church is dead and buried God's spirit and God's word are not present which has been the case throughout centuries there have been periods in history and places in the world where it seems where God's spirit and God's word is not present where the church is dead and buried prior to the reformation in the 16th century church is dead and buried before the great awakenings in the 18th century seemed like the church is dead and buried even before the revivals in the 20th century in our own island it seemed like the church was dead and buried it was all at a very low ebb the church looked spiritually dead and buried it seemed like God's spirit and God's word was not present and even like you know in places like China and South Korea

[34:12] Iran Afghanistan all these places in the world that once were places where the church looked non-existent and yet today they're flourishing might not be like that here but they're flourishing by the power of God's spirit through the preaching of God's word but you know when we look at our nation the church in Scotland today and we often describe our day as a day of small things we don't see many coming to the prayer meeting we don't see many professions of faith we don't see much movement even not only in our own congregation but in other congregations it seems like the church is dead and buried God's spirit and God's word they seem to be absent and like Ezekiel we're left asking son of man can these dry bones live can these dry bones live and yet you come back to this verse verse 11 but after three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them there is awakening there is new birth and you know as it was in the past

[35:26] Jesus the king and head of his church he is able to resurrect restore and revive his church and he will do it only through these two faithful witnesses he won't do it through men he won't do it through denominations he won't do it through through church visions no no he'll do it through his spirit and through his word that's the only way he is going to change our nation through his spirit by the power of God's spirit through the preaching of God's word and that's what John has been reminded here take the region measure the temple it might grow and it'll only grow through God's spirit and God's word and Jesus will do it why?

[36:14] because he promised to do it he promised to build his church even though the gates of hell will press against the church even though the gates of hell will persecute the church they will not prevail against it said Jesus Christ will preserve his church and he will continue to build his church only through the two witnesses the perpetual lights the permanent lights God's spirit and God's word and that's what we need to remember I need to remember this preaching every week God will only change those in front of me through God's spirit and God's word they are the only means God has used to the conversion of sinners and you know as we'll see next week when the seventh and final trumpet sounds it'll all come to an end the church will be vindicated and ultimately Christ will be victorious it's an amazing book I'm sorry

[37:15] I've taken too long tonight may the Lord bless these thoughts to us let us pray O Lord our gracious God we look at thy word and we marvel at it that it is unsearchable riches but we thank thee O Lord that we can stop even during the week and even put our toe into it and realize that there is a depth that we cannot understand a depth that we cannot even fathom but we bless thee and we praise thee that it is thy word and thy word is open before us we have it in our own language we're able to read it and meditate upon it but even the greater wonder is that thy spirit dwells within us and that he reveals Jesus to us more and more that he makes us love Jesus more he makes us love thy word more and he is one who encourages us to apply that word in our lives and so Lord we pray that these two witnesses thy spirit and thy word that they would so shape us and mould us and fashion us and even as thy word is proclaimed through the power of thy spirit our longing is that others would be made alive that there would be those in our homes those in our families those Lord in our community that they too would come and see the beauty of Jesus and the glory of the gospel oh Father we know that we live in this day that thou hast placed us in but help us Lord to be faithful help us to be not to be silent witnesses but to be those who are always ready to give an answer for the reason of the hope that is within us

[38:57] Lord remember us then we pray go before us take away our iniquity receive us graciously for Jesus sake Amen We're going to bring our service to a conclusion this evening we're going to sing in Psalm 27 Psalm 27 at verse 11 Page 237 in the Scottish Psalter Psalm 27 and verse 11 O Lord instruct me in thy way to me a leader be in a plain path because of those that hatred bear to me give me not to mine enemies will for witnesses that lie against me risen are on such as breathe out cruelty and then down to the end of the Psalm wait on the Lord and be thou strong and he shall strength afford unto thine heart yea do thou wait

[40:00] I say upon the Lord these verses of Psalm 27 to God's praise O Lord is thou gr donuts and thy to me behold to me actually the sums and Because of those that came spread there to me.

[40:46] Give me, Lord, to mine and be thrilled.

[40:58] For witnesses applied. Against me, risen on side.

[41:18] For trust me, the cruelty. I fainted heart unless that I believed.

[41:40] I fainted heart to see. The Lord's own goodness said.

[41:55] The Lord's own goodness said. The Lord's own goodness said.

[42:09] I say upon the Lord.

[42:49] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forevermore. Amen.