Revelation 11 - Of Farmers and Feasts
As Jesus’ men and women we are reminded to “keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ” (Hebrews 3:6). We get battle-weary. That’s the life of a spiritual warrior. Do not lose heart. God is by no means done. God loves great beginnings and He always finishes what He starts. God is by no means done with you yet. We may appear outnumbered and in a poor defensive position. But be prepared to fight God’s spiritual battle today. Our General requires a counter-offensive. Today is the day for courage and confidence in Jesus Christ. No matter your place on the battlefield of life (cavalry, infantry, artillery, or support), be prepared - ears, eyes, and hearts open to hear the Trumpet and go. Let's be ready to serve Jesus by loving others in selfless service. There will be a time for rest, but that’s not today. Today is a day to put on the armor of God and to serve the LORD of Heaven’s Armies to the best of our abilities.
When you hear Jesus’ prompting today, go. Be bold, speak the truth in love and courage. Expose evil and resist the devil.
We read Revelation 11 about a 42-month war - a judgment and a time of terrible wrath. The battle between the Romans and the Jews in Jerusalem lasted 42 months. It's an interesting war where the Roman army appears to kill the law and the prophets, but God holds the power to bring back to life what is seemingly lost. In this vision, John hears the seventh trumpet spoken of in Revelation 10:7 where Jesus' mysterious plan and new covenant are to be fulfilled and Jesus assumes His position as King and begins to reign (11:17).
We understand from history (primarily from the ancient historian Josephus) that Vespasian was given four legions (over 60,000 soldiers) and was commissioned by Nero in February of AD 67 to crush the rebellion in Jerusalem and defeat the Judean provisional government. We also know that Jerusalem fell in August of AD 70 when Vespasian (then Emperor himself following Nero's suicide and brief tenures of Galba and Otho as Emperors), commissioned his son Titus to finish the job as commander of the forces in Judea. In Titus' famous siege of Jerusalem of AD 70, Tacitus puts the number of people inside the city at 600,000 while Josephus estimates the number of over one million. Josephus also claimed more than 1.1 million Jews were killed during this war. I encourage you to read about this terrible wrath and first-century holocaust here.
The second Temple was forever destroyed and replaced with the living Temple of Jesus Christ. Here’s what Jesus said to the people of Jerusalem, “I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit” (Matthew 21:43). That’s what John saw in the Revelation 11 spiritual realm vision and that’s exactly what happened in the physical realm culminating in the blood bath and razing of the Temple in AD 70.
Jesus is our qualified perfect High Priest. Never again on this earth will we need someone to be a high priest and never again will we need to build up what God tore down in AD 70. It’s rarely mentioned, but Jesus also forbids calling anyone Rabbi as we have only one source of truth (Jesus Himself, God) (Matthew 23:8). Jesus not only represents us and deals gently with us, but He is “the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9). God is the one who disciplines us as a good, loving, Abba Father. God looks each of us in the eye and calls us to “grow up!” I believe God wants us to stop fighting the world’s way and start showing our love for Him by how we care for others. Genuine love. Genuine Christians. As long as this life lasts we are to keep on loving others.
Be encouraged this morning for Jesus’ promise to grow a people that will produce much fruit is true. In Ephesians 3:20-21 we read, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.” God is able indeed to do immeasurably more. Trust Jesus.
God made a great promise to Abraham - to multiply his descendants beyond measure. God’s promise was about the full number of those that would have faith like Abraham (Romans 4:13 - A promise that Abraham would be heir of the entire cosmos - just a slice of land in the Middle East).
Has God fulfilled His promises to Israel? Was there any benefit in being a Jew (Romans 3:1)? Yes and yes. The key is what Jesus says, as we’ll discuss in a minute, but first look at what the Jewish Prophets said. In Joshua, we hear that “Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; everyone was fulfilled” (Joshua 21:43). Solomon, who built the first great Temple wrote this of God fulfilling His promises to the Israelites, “Praise the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises he gave through his servant Moses” (1 Kings 8:56). In Deuteronomy, Moses explains the responsibility on the Israelites, “Just as the Lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply, the Lord will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy” (28:63-64).
Likewise, Nehemiah confessed boldly God’s faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant, “When he had proved himself faithful, you made a covenant with him to give him and his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Girgashites. And you have done what you promised, for you are always true to your word” (9:8). And again from Nehemiah, “You made their descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and brought them into the land you had promised to their ancestors. They went in and took possession of the land. You subdued whole nations before them. Even the Canaanites, who inhabited the land, were powerless! Your people could deal with these nations and their kings as they pleased” (9:23-24). God is faithful. It was Jesus who came to His people, but the Israelites rejected Him (John 1:1, Mark 12:1-12, and Matthew 23:37). There was a consequence to rejecting the Messiah - John was seeing that judgment and consequence from the perspective of the spiritual realm in Revelation 11.
Jesus is the real deal. He’s not a shadow, but rather He’s the Model that all things are patterned after - not the other way around. Jesus is the final and archetypal High Priest; His power is from a life that cannot be destroyed.
Jesus guarantees our better covenant with God (Hebrews 7:22). Our High Priest’s business is to love protect and grow His people, His nation that produces godly fruit. Jesus is Christ the King. Satan’s business is to rebel against God and to destroy God’s people.
Sadly, sometimes people and organizations mask their motives and intentions with a show of godliness while they truly serve power and money. Jesus sees right through that (Matthew 23). Don’t get lost in the interests of your camp, your tribe, or your favorite theologian. Many care more about their favorite theologian such as J.N. Darby enthusiasts (fixating on never-ending predictions about a secret rapture) or Determinists (fixated on defending the theories of a twenty-seven-year-old French lawyer who attempted to put God in a box when he wrote his ‘Institutes’ making God the author of evil and having no compunction at executing those who disagreed with his theology). Others care more for their worldly cause (changing climate or other idols of the day) than anything of God.
We are repeatedly reminded in Scripture not to think too highly of ourselves. I like how it’s said that you may indeed be the smartest guy in the room - if there is no one else in the room! The mark of a Christian is our love, not our knowledge, title, wealth, or worldy power. May we not seek our own interests, but may we care more deeply for what matters to Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:21-22).
As we read Revelation 11 we wonder whether it was fair for Jesus to judge the people of Jerusalem. As I ponder that question and as we look at the great wrath of destruction on Jerusalem that Jesus predicted would happen in AD 70, I also ask if it’s fair for God to require Christians to be pure, and holy and abstain from immorality (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, and 7). Is it fair that Jesus says Christians should owe nothing to anyone except to love them (Romans 13:8-10). We find in Christ all wisdom and the answer to these weighty questions (Colossians 2:3). The answer of course is yes and yes. God is perfectly just and fair - to the ancient people of Jerusalem and to the modern-day person, placing his or her faith in Jesus.
In Revelation 11 we see total destruction and judgment on Jerusalem - it is an end to the old covenant and the result of their wicked unbelief. Jesus loved the people of Jerusalem - with supernatural love. He grieved for those who hated Him and would soon crucify Him. Yet He still loved them. He grieved for “the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers!" (Matthew 23:37).
In the Parable of the Evil Farmers, Jesus called out the hypocrisy and evil disobedience of the Jewish teachers of religious law and Pharisees. Jesus tells them plainly of the terrible judgment that would fall on them. Jesus said, “As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people for all time—from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar. I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation” (Matthew 23:35-36).
We hear two Parables from Jesus back to back. One of the Evil Farmers and the next about the King’s Great Wedding Feast. They are making the same point. There would be justice and judgment against those who reject God, and a new covenant of God - salvation through belief in the Son.
Jesus taught about the Kingdom of Heaven that was very near. Jesus said the Kingdom was like a great wedding feast for the King’s son. The King invited special guests but those who were invited all refused to come (Matthew 22:3). So what did the King do? He was patient and kind. He sent other servants to the invited guests to ask them again (Jesus is obviously talking about the Jewish people here). But the invited guests ignored the King, insulted His messengers, and killed them. And what did the King do to those insolent and wicked murderers? The King was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town” (Matthew 22:7). That is what we see in Revelation 11 - just as Jesus said it would happen within 40 years of His death, burial, and resurrection.
Jesus the King grieved for the people of Jerusalem. But they were not worthy of honor. We are now in the Church age. Jesus reigns today in Heaven and His messengers go out to invite all the people across this globe to accept the gift of God of eternal life. Every one of us sinners has a responsibility to choose to accept or reject God. When we hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God gives us the ability to accept Him or to reject Him. God’s salvation is grace through faith alone. It was true for the people of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago and it is true for us today. Romans 3:22 says, “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.” You must place your faith in Jesus for salvation.
We read in Revelation 11 a peculiar scene describing two olive trees and two lampstands. In the Book of Zechariah, we read a similar vision. Zechariah saw a solid gold lampstand with a bowl of oil on it and an olive tree on each side of the bowl (Zechariah 4:1-3). The angel tells Zechariah that the seven lamps around the gold lampstand “represent the eyes of the LORD that search all around the world” (4:10) and that the trees and their branches that pour out the golden oil “represent the two heavenly beings who stand in the court of the Lord of all the earth" (4:14 and Revelation 11:4). Well, so what? Well, in Zechariah’s time, the angel was telling him about the building of the Second Temple and the governor of Judah, Zerubabel who would lay the foundation, and the high priest Jeshua (Zechariah 3) who was given conditional authority by the angel over the Temple. These were shadows of the things to come when the Messiah would come to fulfill all prophecy.
Likewise in Revelation John is getting a clear vision that Jerusalem will be trampled for 42 months (11:2) and a vision of the Law and the Prophets (Moses and Elijah) as God’s witnesses who testified against the people of Jerusalem (11:7).
There is a battle going on in the spiritual realm in this Revelation 11 scene. But the LORD of Heaven’s Armies cannot be defeated. He is the Just Judge. He is the Creator who has the power to defeat death and give us life. And He is the King who invites guests to the wedding feast for His son. Jesus Christ rules and reigns. He reigns today. Judgment came upon Jerusalem in the first century just as Jesus said it would. The spiritual battle continues today. Yes there will be a final return of Christ to this earth as we read about in 2 Peter 3 and in Matthew 25:31. At that time God will destroy this earth and each person will be held accountable by God - those who trust in Jesus will inherit the Kingdom promised by the Father and prepared by God since the creation of the world (Matthew 25:34).
Dear Christ Jesus, You are the King. May we serve You faithfully today. Amen.
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