The Minor Prophets and the End Time Church, Part 19:The Message of the Two Witnesses

By: Darryl Henson

Date: February 26, 2000 Tape 435

As you know, the last two sermons we went into Zechariah 1-2; and then, last time, 3-4.

I want to do a little review here, from the standpoint of this entire message or, flow of the message in the Minor Prophets with the overall thought of what is now a message to spiritual Israel, the church. We are focusing on that in this particular series. That is the direction I am coming from with it--that this is a story that is to be preached to the church now.

But it is a message that will be repeated by the ministry of those we are discussing, i.e., the two witnesses, to the entire nation of Israel, on a physical level. You can go through it and pick out the story here through the pattern that we see in the church today. And yet you can see that this will apply to the physical people of Israel, as well, shortly hereafter. It will need again to be preached to them in much the same manner that we are discussing it in the church. The message is the same to them as it is to us.

So, let's go back and review briefly. Hosea, Joel and Amos I am going to link together and I won't spend very much time on these and do them justice, in that sense. But Hosea, Joel and Amos define the problem, the sinfulness within the Church of God today, the difficulties that we are experiencing. And Joel gives the time setting--just prior to and including the Day of the Lord culminating in the return of Christ. So, the timing and the message are all here for the end-time church, as well as for end-time physical Israel.

The book of Obadiah then shows an enemy that will both be in the church and will effect physical Israel as well. That is, the Edomite or the people of Esau, who have always been a thorn in the side of Jacob. And they will rise up over Jacob as Genesis shows.

The book of Jonah is inset there. It is primarily remembered because of what Christ said about His own time in the grave--72 hours--but in the flow of the book is prophecy of the end time. It does appear that a rebellious coward will enter the scene at some point in the church who is not willing to do the things, or whatever, that God chooses to be done. He will hold back for whatever reasons.

The book of Micah gives a warning. It gives a bit of a preview of what will happen with the restored church and ultimately in the Millennium as well. Some have thought that maybe Darryl doesn't think that all these scriptures are referring to the Millennium (in Isaiah and through the prophecies including the Minor Prophets) but yes, I do. But I think it is going to start a little earlier than the Millennium with the restored church. God will give spiritual blessings and even physical blessings to His remnant church when He brings it together.

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Micah promises that deliverance is going to come. He tells the church to "rise and thresh" and face this world and what is coming against it.

In the book of Nahum introduces another enemy, and yet, at the same time, it is addressed very much to Judah or the remnant of the church that came out of Worldwide, in the pattern here. It gives reference to the end-time messenger in chapter one and verse fifteen about those who bring good tidings. And we will see quite a bit about that today, but I wanted to point out that they are introduced there.

So, they are with, and part of, the church long before we get to Haggai and Zechariah and we need to understand this flow. They are not a couple of people who suddenly appear at the very end with 1260 days left. Because if we do not recognize where the correct message is until that time, it may be too late for us. We need to hear the message today. We need to know where God is working today because we need to respond.

The remnant, at some point, is going to, as a whole, respond and come to where God is going to be working. So we need to be alert and aware of the fact that those people, though laboring, perhaps, in obscurity to some degree, are going to burst on the scene in a worldwide fashion. And we will see today that Zerubbabel and Joshua were working with the church primarily or, exclusively, in that sense. As Zerubbabel and Joshua their job was to rebuild the church.

Now, there was a link with Moses and Elijah which we will also see. That is included for a reason. When they start fulfilling the roles of Moses and Elijah they will enter the world stage. In the meantime it is a church stage and it is a very small stage in that sense.

Then on to the book of Habakkuk, where briefly Habakkuk says, "Such a mess." And then he says, "How long, O Lord?" Zephaniah talks about a financial crash. Perhaps this crash has to do with the church which certainly has crashed. But in the overall sense it will be with the financial system of this world and this nation, which will crash. That certainly affects the church too.

In chapter two he talks about saving ourselves and gathering ourselves together and being meek, humble, contrite and obedient to God so that we might be accounted worthy, as Matthew 24 echoes. It also says a humble and contrite people will be saved out of the wreckage that is coming.

Then we get to the book of Haggai, where the leadership of the latter temple is first censored for having their mind too much on the physical things--of building homes and so on. Someone suggested that perhaps that also talks about Zerubbabel; and the commentaries do confirm this thought--that perhaps he was too busy building a family dynasty, as well, and somewhat distracted by that, as well as with physical dwellings. In other words, the entire focus has to be on the church--building the spiritual Family of God.

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Then we get to the book of Zechariah which began in the middle of Haggai's message, which was only about four months long. Again, in the very first part we have a warning and then it goes on to show that Jerusalem--that is, the church--will be built back. Christ will be a wall of fire around it. Then it begins talking about the leadership introducing first Joshua and then Zerubabel. That's where we left off last time.

Understand that the message is--and the message of the Minor Prophets will be--to the whole church. To every "daughter" that came out of Worldwide. That is the key here. It leaves no one out! And I think it is important, before we get on into the message, which is the main focus that I want to discuss today, of Zerubabel and Joshua--to the church.

We need to understand, ahead of time, that none of us are important. We just had a sermonette here about the weak and the base and about how God has used the refuge--the refugees, the misfits, and the various ones--to confound the wise. And so, even within the church, those whom God uses probably will not be the mighty and the noble. Rather, He will probably use some misfits and some obscure individuals.

Look back at David. How does God work? Even David's father left him out. The idea was: "You must have one more son." "Well, let's see. Oh, yeah, I do have one more. He's out with the sheep." "Well, fetch him." So that's the way God tends to work.

Now, I want to show this in Lamentations. We do go back here in relation to the church once in a while. I will preface this by saying that when I have discussed "the daughter of Zion" it has generally been in a favorable way. That is, that she was the chosen one of the daughters that came out of Worldwide and that God would use her wherever she is, whoever she turns out to be. But you have to take the good with the bad. And I want to point out that here in the book of Lamentations she too comes under fire.

"And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty hath departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old [We remember Worldwide in her glory and how things went well; and we were essentially peaceful.], when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none helped her: the adversaries saw her, and mocked at her Sabbaths" (Lamentations 1:6-7).

"Her Sabbaths" could mean her feasts or the weekly Sabbaths. We were despised by the people around us because of the things that we kept and the things that we did.

"Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward. Her filthiness is in her skirts [her adulteries, her spiritual adulteries]; she remembereth not her latter end; therefore she hath been marvellously abased [mightily, with a big thump]: she had no comforter [And that's, basically, the position that you and I have been in for quite some time now.]. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself." (Lamentations 1:8-9).

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Now, I'm reading these particular verses, partly because of the dynamics that are occurring right here in the Big Sandy/Gladewater area, where I am today. Within about the next month because Big Sandy is going up on the auction block. Ambassador College will be auctioned off piece by piece--part by part. It will probably receive one to ten cents on the dollar (I would think in depressed east Texas) of its real worth. All the blood, sweat, tears, tithes and every effort that we put into that is going to be sold off to the highest bidder.

I think of my own childhood and working in the piney woods to clear the Muscadine vines and the briars and the bramble and the blackberry bushes and everything else. It really hurts to see this happening, but here it is.

I talked to a person yesterday that I happened to run into. He has no connection with the church, but as I was coming into town he asked me where I was from. I told him that I had lived in Gladewater and Big Sandy. Well, he had too. He said, "Do you know coach so-and-so, over at Gladewater High." And I said, "No, I went to Imperial Schools." And his countenance changed.

"The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation" (Lamentations 1:10).

We are being mocked at and this ties in very well, if you want to make a note, with Zechariah 1. Remember? God said He was a little displeased and then, when the heathen came in, He became sorely displeased with the church. He wasn't entirely happy with it before, but when the heathen came in, then it was really a mess. So, Lamentations 1:10 fits very well with that.

Now, let's go on to chapter 2. Here it's speaking specifically to "the daughter of Zion," not the whole church.

"How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven to the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!" (Lamentations 2:1).

"The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion:..." (Lamentations 2:8).

"The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; [and so on]..." (Lamentations 2:10).

"What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?" (Lamentations 2:13).

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"Their heart cried to the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thy eye cease" (Lamentations 2:18).

In Zechariah 2 God talks about the church being "the apple of His eye." I think, if I recall properly, that He mentions "the daughter of Zion" there too. Let me go back there and take a quick look at that. No, he says:

"Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon" (Zechariah 2:7).

Then, in verse 8, he says:

"...for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his [God's] eye" (Zechariah 2:8).

And then, in verse 10, he refers to the "daughter of Zion."

"Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion:..." (Zechariah 2:10).

So he is talking about the remnant church--the daughter of Zion--here. And this is not a pretty message even for the one that God has picked out to do the leading ultimately.

"Arise, cry out in the night:..." (Lamentations 2:19).

If this isn't the night, spiritually, I don't know when it will be. It will come to the world in the day of gloominess, in the Day of the Lord, in terms of the moon and the sun being blotted out, but right now the church is front and center sitting in darkness.

"...in the beginning of the watches pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord [as we come upon these events, as they draw nearer, at the beginning of the watches and then it will proceed.]: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger at the head of every street. Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this [In other words, "This is Your people. This is Your church. Consider to whom You have done this!]. Shall the women [That is, the churches.] eat their fruit, children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?" (Lamentations 2:19-20).

And yet they are falling on the left and the right of us, constantly. What a message here!

"It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23).

So, God gives us an opportunity every day to change the relationship between He and us.

"The LORD is good to them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD" (Lamentations 3:25-26).

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We have to patiently wait for this to end as Habakkuk, finally, reminded himself.

"It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth" (Lamentations 3:27).

So these churches now are all new. "The daughter of Zion" is new, having come out of Worldwide. And it's good for a man to suffer a certain amount of difficulties, young alike, lest he have success too early and then coast through the rest of his life. God will not allow that to happen to the church.

"The hands of the tenderhearted women [the churches] have boiled their own children: they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people" (Lamentations 4:10).

And you can tie in Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 34 and Malachi 1 and 2 with that, if you wish. Remember in the Song of Songs how one daughter was chosen and she was going to become the Bride of Christ. In the overall sense of Haggai, I think that it means that when He draws it all together, it is going to be under one head--one set of leadership. The other daughters were jealous. But, if you recall the story, the chosen one--the bride--got comfortable in bed and did not want to get up and let her groom-to-be in the door. She became comfortable, too.

Now, at this point, I am not trying to define here just who that particular daughter is, whom God will choose. But the point I want to make to you and me is that no one can afford to relax and just settle on their lees as Zephaniah said. In the words of Paul, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. None are righteous, no not one." He was addressing the Greeks and the Jews and so on in that chapter. "The wages of sin is death," Paul said, same context.

All the churches of Revelation 2 and 3 are told to overcome--i.e., to repent, to change, to be different than what they are. In other words, no one, no church, no organization, can say, "I am okay. My organization is okay." It is just simply too easy to settle down and say, "Hey, this must be the place." Whether you are in United, or Global, or Living, or Church of the Great God, or a smaller group, wherever that might be, no one has that luxury. "Take heed, when you think you stand--lest you fall!" So, whoever you might think you are, this applies.

It does appear, and the flip side of this coin is, that "the daughter of Zion," like the rest of the daughters goes through the meat grinder before God begins to draw the remnant together and truly put the church together.

So, there have been many people who thought they were the two witnesses. Thousand, millions, through the years, I am sure. Anybody, who picked up the Bible and read it, thought: "Hey that's a neat job." They didn't read it all, I don't think. But, nevertheless, let's understand that wherever we are we'd better not relax. God is going to draw together the humble and the contrite.

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I want to go where we left off in Zechariah 4, at least, in reference here. I said at that point that we would discuss the message of these who are the two witnesses of Revelation 11. To review briefly, to prove just who these are.

"And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth" (Zechariah 4:13-14).

This is quoted in Revelation 11. These are the two olive trees. This is the only reference to the two olive trees in the rest of the Bible except for Revelation 11. So, what he is doing here is making a positive identification that Zerubbabel and Joshua, who are stipulated to be the ones to lead the remnant and to rebuild the church, are the two witnesses. That is their main focus.

I want to quote one more back here in Revelation 11. This is one of the final points that I made in the last sermon. A vision was given to the apostle John here, towards the end of his life, of course; and it says in verse 11 of chapter 1:

"...Thou must prophesy again concerning many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings" (Revelation 10:11).

Old man John, at that point. was not going to go out and do this. But he did represent the leadership of the church and this is an end time prophecy as Revelation 1 clearly shows. The setting is the Day of the Lord, Revelation 1:10. So, he is talking here in prophecy about what will happen at the end. This prophecy must come again before many peoples, nations, tongues and kings.

Now, I submit that Herbert Armstrong went to kings and nations and peoples and so on. And God used him to call many people who are now being sorted out and chosen, a few of them, at least. But fast-forward now to the thought as it continues in Revelation 11. This is an end time setting.

"And there was given me..." (Revelation 11:1).

That would be the leadership of the church, again, represented by the apostle John who was "play-acting" this thing out, much as Ezekiel, and Jeremiah and Isaiah did some of their prophecies.

"And there was given me [or the leadership today] a reed like a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God [the church. Focus on the church] and the altar [that is, the ministry], and the altar, and them that worship in it [that is, the laity, the flock, the sheep]. But the court which is outside the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given to the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months" (Revelation 11:1-2).

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Now, this prophecy is leading up to the 1260 days of the ministry of the two witnesses. And it shows, a little bit later on in the chapter that they will go to the world. But their first focus is on the church. He says, "While you are dealing with and measuring the temple--while you are dealing with the ministry and the laity in the church--forget about the Gentiles. Forget about taking the gospel to the world. That will come later, in sequence."

And so, as Joshua and Zerubbabel are introduced in Haggai and Zechariah, there is no hint of preaching the gospel to the world until the very last verse of Haggai, which says, "I will make Zerubbabel a signet or, a banner, to the nations."

So in this interim period between the death of Herbert Armstrong and the beginning of the 1260 days and the message to the world that will then take on Moses and Elijah-like proportions (but I don't want to get into that too much at this time because I don't want to steal the thunder from the book of Malachi. And there is quite a significant thing that will happen there.), but in this interim period the emphasis is on the church. And we are going to see that as we get, now, on into the message itself.

Let's go to Mark 1. All four of the gospels talk about John the Baptist. They put a little different emphasis on it, a little different meaning and each one adds a little bit to the story.

"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness [Now, what was this one crying in the wilderness?], Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John was baptizing in the wilderness, and preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins" (Mark 1:1-4).

His focus was preparing the way of the Lord, making straight paths, proper judgment, right procedure, correct ways of living and to preach repentance. So the message of John the Baptist, as we'll see, is tied together very tightly with this "type" of the end time work of Zerubbabel, Joshua, Elijah and so on. We'll get to that as we go.

Christ, as He said these things, is [quoting] off of Isaiah 40--which we'll get to a little later on--in making these statements. Now, go to Malachi 3, if you would. We will get into Malachi a little bit here although I don't want to emphasize it too much because this is to come later and it will be a climax to this series because God is building up to something.

Again, this is in the end-time prophecies. This is not referring to the time when Christ was here on the earth, except in a lesser fulfillment. The final fulfillment will be at the return of Christ in glory. A way had to be prepared for Him to come the first time and a way, in a more dramatic fashion, has to be prepared for Him to come the second time because He is going to come in far greater glory and drama than He did the first time. So the conditions are different.

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Notice, Malachi, an end time book written as the last of the Minor Prophets and set with timing, by Joel as the end of the age.

"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming [Notice the context here.]? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness" (Malachi 3:1-3).

He did not do this the first time around. He castigated the sons of Levi and Judah then. He got on their backs because of the corruption that they had done to His Word--the Old Testament. But He did not refine and purify them. In fact, in JOHN 10, He said, "I'm not going to have anything to do with you, until the second resurrection." He put them off and said, "At this time, you are not even sheep in My fold. You are trying to come in the wrong way--not through Me. And I will not find this acceptable."

So this is not talking about the first time that Christ came to the earth. It is talking about when He returns in glory and He is going to set things aright at that time. This messenger that He is talking about in Malachi 3:1, who must prepare the way, is at the end of this age. It is not talking about John the Baptist in particular, although John the Baptist fulfilled this in part by preparing the way the first time. But we are talking about an end-time messenger here.

And the same words are used here in Malachi 3 as Mark used in chapter1. Now, let's go to Matthew 3. Here Matthew shows where Christ derived what he was saying and it is Isaiah 40.

"For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight" (Matthew 3:3).

"Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father:..." (Matthew 3:8-9).

No one has any credibility in other words. No one, not even those who were God's chosen ones in the Old Testament, would have any credibility. John was preaching repentance to them all.

We'll pick up a little bit more in LUKE 3. This is, again, speaking about John the Baptist.

"And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;" (Luke 3:3).

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Remember what the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel and so on say about a message of, "Peace, peace" when there is no peace? John the Baptist came crying repentance for the remission of sins.

"As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness [A dark spiritual time in terms of the church.], Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; 6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Luke 3:4-6).

Now, this applied to John the Baptist in part, but look at the context there. It is talking about the knocking down of all governments, of all hills, of all peoples on this earth. It is talking about the end-time. Recall what we read in Zechariah 4 in the last sermon where it said that the mountains and hills will be made low. Well, let me read it.

"...Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts [God is going to take a hand here in other words.]. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth its headstone with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace to it. (Zechariah 4:6-7)

So, the same type of language is used to describe John the Baptist's message that is used to describe what Zerubbabel will ultimately do to (A) the church and all of its authorities and governments and (B) the world and its governments--mountains and hills, big ones and little ones. I said it will become dramatic and that's where Moses and Elijah will come into the picture. We'll discuss that more when we get to the book of Malachi. But you can see the tie-in here between John the Baptist's message and Zerubbabel, for sure there in Luke 3.

"And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elijah? And he saith, I am not...." (John 1:19-21).

Now, he was being modest and, perhaps in his own mind he did not feel that he was not. But Christ at one point said that, yes, He was the Elijah to come as we'll see, in a little bit.

"...Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they to him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. (John 1:21-23)

I don't think that Zerubbabel and Joshua are going to be proclaiming who they think they are just as John the Baptist did not proclaim who he might have been or, who Christ confirmed he was. He was simply saying, "I am crying out for you to repent! That's who I am. That's all I am."

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You see the message is what is important! John did not consider himself that important, as a messenger, but the message is all important here. If the message isn't right, you can throw the messenger out. That's the bottom line.

Now go back, since we've quoted this several times, and read Isaiah 40 very quickly. We've referred to it several times recently, but here it says:

"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye kindly to Jerusalem, and cry to her, that her warfare is accomplished,..." (Isaiah 40:1-2).

That's where we are in the Minor Prophets--in terms of Haggai and Zechariah--because we had severe warnings and castigation from God in the first books of the Minor Prophets. Then we get to the point where comfort is given.

"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3).

Here he repeats what we read in Zechariah 4 and in John.

"Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see it: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it." (Isaiah 40:4-5).

This didn't happen with the first Advent of Christ, but it is about to happen with His Second Coming. So part of the message is good tidings of great joy on the heels of the troubles that we are now facing, and about to face.

Now, let's go to Matthew 11 and we'll begin to tie this together.

"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force [or, struggle, trial, difficulty]. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John (Matthew 11:12-13).

So the focus of all the prophecies comes in on John the Baptist. That is, the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, all of the Minor Prophets and so on. If it came in on him, then it comes in, even more so, before the second coming of Christ which, again, is with far greater drama and far greater glory than it was the first time.

"And if ye will receive it, this is Elijah, who was to come" (Matthew 11:14).

So he makes a clear link between John the Baptist and the Elijah. I think that is very clear. It couldn't be said in any plainer terms. Now, let's go to Matthew 17. This is the Transfiguration and notice how this is linked.

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"And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up upon an high mountain by themselves, And he was transfigured before them: and his face shone as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light" (Matthew 17:1-2).

This setting is of the Second Coming of Christ--not the first.

"And, behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him" (Matthew 17:3).

You know the story. The disciples immediately thought this was the Feast of Tabernacles. "We'll build booths--one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah." They had a spirit of service, there.

So Christ projected Peter, James and John into the time of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ when He was glorified before them. And He appeared with whom, David and Abraham? No! Moses and Elijah. There is a reason for this and we'll get to that, in more detail, when we get to the book of Malachi. We'll show what the job of Moses will be at the end and what the job of Elijah will be at the end. That is, the things that they'll have to do when all these "types" begin to come together at the end in a context larger than that of just the church. Now, notice:

"While he was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him" (Matthew 17:5).

God is going to send Zerubbabel and Joshua as the two olive trees or, the two witnesses, to rebuild the church. Then they will enter the world stage as Moses and Elijah to preach these things of these prophets to the world. That is, primarily to both houses of Israel because they also need to repent just as the church today needs to repent.

But the key figure, lest we get things out of order here, in our minds and get the cart before the horse,… The key figure in all of this will be Jesus Christ. If you recall Isaiah 52 where it tells the church to rise and put on her garments and to be holy and righteous. It introduces the two witnesses in verse 7. Then there is an inset and you have a whole chapter (chapter 53) dealing with Christ Himself--how He is the sacrifice. He is the key figure.

Once that inset is done then the blessings begin to come to the church. But we have to recognize and this is what He was trying to get across to the disciples to "Hear My Son." First and foremost, hear God's Son. The two witnesses are going to come in sackcloth as a symbol of humility. They are not going to try to supercede or be a big deal in that sense at all. God is going to add the power, but they have to come in humility and contriteness.

In order for God to rebuild the church, we are going to have to have on the scene leaders who are humble and contrite, easily entreated and who will treat the people gently and tenderly. As Ezekiel 34 says, bringing in the type of David here again, they'll have the

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same manner with God's people that David had with the sheep. Not to hurt and lash out, or to slaughter and sacrifice the sheep, but to help them find good pasture, still waters and peace and contentment which Haggai says is going to come in the latter temple.

So the emphasis is on Jesus Christ, who can bring this about. Could Moses and Aaron have done anything without Christ? Could John the Baptist have accomplished anything without Christ to follow up? John the Baptist only prepared the way for the key figure. So let's never loose sight of that.

"And as they came down the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man,..." (Matthew 17:9).

So Moses and Elijah did not appear there. They weren't resurrected. It was a vision.

"...until the Son of man is risen from the dead" (Matthew 17:9).

Then it was to be preached. In other words, it didn't have to do with John the Baptist preparing the way before He came. This was to be preached after Christ was resurrected--after John the Baptist had long since lost his head.

"And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come?" (Matthew 17:10).

The disciples couldn't understand. John the Baptist was already dead. So, why should Elijah first come?

"But I say to you, That Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but have done to him whatever they desired [They cut his head off.]. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer by them [He was also killed of them.]. Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them concerning John the Baptist" (Matthew 17:12-13).

Until then, they didn't quite get the picture of how all this symbolism came together. It was a vortex of confusion I guess, in their minds and emotions, about John the Baptist and Elijah and so on. And then they finally got the picture. That is, that this had to come again. That it had to be preached long after Christ had been resurrected.

Let's go to Malachi 4 and confirm this thought.

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse" (Malachi 4:5-6).

The context here is the Day of the Lord just prior to the return of Christ before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. So John the Baptist, as a man preparing

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the way for Jesus Christ, was the first wave. He was the first fulfillment. But a greater fulfillment is to be yet.

I'm not saying that those who do it will be greater than John the Baptist was. I didn't say that. What I did say was that the drama and the circumstances are going to be far greater on the world stage than that which John the Baptist had in the area around Palestine and the desert out there. This is a far greater thing in that sense and will, in effect, encompass the whole world.

Zerubbabel and Joshua are woven together in the story of John the Baptist with a link to Moses and Elijah. Now, let's go to Isaiah 52. I want us to analyze what are the specific things that will be preached at the end? This context, and you can start in about Isaiah 35 and particularly from chapter 40 on where it talks about he who comes preparing the way for Christ and preaching and how the valley and hills will be made low and so on, goes right on through the rest of the book of Isaiah.

He talks about His witnesses in chapters 40 through 54. I don't want to get into this too much because I did give it in the fourth sermon at the Feast of Tabernacles in South Africa this year. So, some of you have heard it although some have not. But this whole context through here is talking about the two witnesses coming on the scene and the rebuilding of the church. And I go into this quite extensively showing that this is not in the Millennium, per se. But it happens before then and the context is of the Day of the Lord. The context is the Assyrian in the land and so on and so forth to indicate that this happens before then.

In other words, the restoration starts with the rebuilding of the latter temple. It then continues right on into the Millennium. Then, it involves all of Israel, not just the church. But it starts with the church because things must be restored as per Malachi 4:5-6. And we'll get into exactly just what must be restored when we get to that. But it's talking here in the same language in Isaiah 52:7 that was introduced in Isaiah 40.

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,..." (Isaiah 52:7).

This is repeated again in Nahum 1:15. Now what does he do? He's preaching good tidings--the good news of the World Tomorrow to use Herbert Armstrong's words. But this is a continuation, this is a rebuilding--not Herbert Armstrong--that this is talking about.

"...that proclaimeth peace;..." (Isaiah 52:7).

This is one of the main, key subjects of the end-time work of the end-time rebuilding of the church, which is what the two witnesses first do, is to measure the temple--measure Jerusalem. They publish peace--those things that are required in order for us, as a church, to have peace.

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"The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts" (Haggai 2:9).

So part of the message is peace, harmony and unity. Those are all synonyms and mean the same thing. Unity must return to the church or, to the remnant of the church because that's all that's going to survive, at least until the Tribulation. So a key element is going to be peace, unity and harmony. When we start looking for the correct message that is going to be preached at the end there's where we start projecting to the Kingdom of God and peace.

"...that bringeth good tidings of good [which is similar in focus], that proclaimeth salvation;..." (Isaiah 52:7).

That is, that talks about the process of salvation. That shows what must occur in order for us to have salvation. Here is another key characteristic of the gospel for the end time. That is what must be preached by this one, primarily, to start with here.

"...that saith to Zion, Thy God reigneth!" (Isaiah 52:7).

He preaches to the church the Omnipotence, the Sovereignty and the Providence of God. That is going to be a key element of the end-time message. We need to start looking for people who are proclaiming these things, who have their focus on the church. Not preaching the gospel to the world, but forgetting about them for the moment and preaching these things to the people of God. "That says to Zion"--that is, to the church. (Hebrews 12:22-23)

There are some key elements of it. You might want to write them down and start looking for people who are teaching those things. Where do you hear the message of salvation explained? The process of justification, sanctification and glorification and what we must go through to obtain the salvation of God. Start looking for that message!

Now, let's go to the book of Luke. We have already shown the link between John the Baptist and the end-time Elijah and how Moses and Elijah are types or, symbols of the two witnesses.

"And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah,..." (Luke 1:17).

We'll examine what the spirit and power of Elijah are, later on. Not today, but later.

"...to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children [Here's a quote from Malachi 4.], and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:17)

Here is the job. This isn't necessarily "the message" as such. This is the job--prepare a people for the Lord or, prepare the Bride. Or, as Herbert Armstrong said, "Get the church

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ready." It's all the same thing, just put in a little bit different words. There's the focus of the end-time leadership.

Now, let's drop down to verse 67. This is speaking of John the Baptist again.

"And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying [Here's a prophesy for the future.], Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people," (Luke 1:67-68).

His prophesy, in his mind, had to do with his particular son and it was fulfilled by John the Baptist, just as it was said here. But, as we have already said, that the work of John the Baptist has to be repeated on a different forum, on a different stage, at the end.

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;" (Luke 1:68-69).

You can go to Ezekiel 34 and see that in this scattered time when there is no leader. God is going to raise up those leaders who will have the same attitude towards the sheep that David did. So the spirit and attitude of David will be in the end-time leadership.

"As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;" (Luke 1:70-71).

Well, these are the prophecies that we are reading--that apply to us today at the end-time. The return of Christ and the restoration of the church first, who becomes the Bride, and then the restoration of all Israel and Judah. Then is when we are saved from our enemies. The church also has to be saved, you see, by going to a place of safety, with Satan chasing her out of the country or, out of where they are.

"To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73 The oath which he swore to our father Abraham, 74 That he would grant to us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear," (Luke 1:72-74).

Are we there yet? I don't think that they reached that juncture in Christ's first ministry at all. People never came to live without fear. But He tells the end-time church, in Isaiah 40, 41 and 42 and several times over again in Haggai, not to fear but to be of good courage and to work. "For I am with you, says the Lord of hosts." So the same type of language is used for the end-time church as is used right here, speaking of John the Baptist as the man.

"In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life" (Luke 1:75).

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Here's another element of the end-time gospel. "Holiness and righteousness." Not that you happen to be in the right organization and therefore you are going to be in the Kingdom of God, but the emphasis is going to be on holiness and righteousness. So when you start looking for the end-time message and those who will be the end-time leaders of the church look for a message that emphasizes holiness and righteousness.

"And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest [The two witnesses are called "prophets" in Revelation 11.]: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;" (Luke 1:76).

"His ways"--His way of living. We talk about, and Paul talked about, "this way"--the way of God, the way of life! Now notice specifically what the message will be.

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins. (Luke 1:77)

That's what we read in Isaiah 52:7--knowledge of salvation. There it said to preach salvation, I think, but here is says, "to give knowledge of salvation." In other words, all the attendant elements of salvation must be understood and preached.

"By the remission of their sins." So repentance as we read in several verses in the beginning of Matthew, Luke and John and forgiveness of sin has to be a major part of it. It cannot be a benign gospel. It cannot be a gospel of peace and love and harmony in the sense of having it today. Because to achieve those goals, which He lays out to the church and which He says in the book of Haggai will occur, repentance has to be preached first. He said, "to prepare his ways"--that is, preparing the Bride, getting the people ready, getting the church ready.

"Through the tender mercy of our God; with which the dayspring [Or, as my margin says, "Branch" referring to Malachi 4:2--the Branch of the Lord.] from on high hath visited us, To give light to them that sit in darkness..." (Luke 1:78-79).

Who sits in darkness today, spiritually? Well, the whole world does, deceived by Satan obviously, but the whole church, basically, is sitting in darkness today. The church does not understand what God is doing. The church does not understand what the message of the two witnesses at the end is going to be. They think suddenly they are going to come on the scene and start doing miracles, as per what we read will happened during those three and one half years, 42 months or 1260 days.

The church, as a whole, does not recognize that the witnesses are on the scene long before in the guise, or types, of Zerubbabel and Joshua to rebuild the church. What we are talking about here is the message that is required to prepare the people of God.

"To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Luke 1:79).

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The church today does not understand how to achieve peace and harmony and unity. I present the fruits as the witness of that. On my e-mail, at home in my office, right now I have a little battle raging, being waged by several people on the Internet, about Herbert Armstrong. Some saying that he prophesied correctly and some pointing out every time that he said something like Hitler and Mussolini were going to be the guys, that he was a false prophet. And they attack him back and forth, forth and back. I did not initiate this little squabble, nor do I get involved in it, but somebody put me on the mailing list of that particular Chat Room. So I am getting all the messages and believe me there is no peace there. They simply don't understand.

We have to be taught humility and meekness and contriteness--kindness and gentleness--in order to learn the way of peace which God says that He is going to bring in the latter temple. So, the leaders have to be preaching these things.

"And the child grew, and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing to Israel" (Luke 1:80).

That's talking about John the Baptist, as the original man.

So you see there some of the key elements of the message. And you need to look around and examine what is being taught. First of all, we have to find people who are preparing a people for God. That is, who are doing what Herbert Armstrong told us to do as a ministry, and that is, get the church ready, prepare the Bride.

Many are focusing on preaching to the world, while the Bride has been told, in Isaiah 52, to put on her white garments. And I don't think she's dressed! In fact, her whole fanny is sticking out there for the whole world to see. And they are going to see it at the auction, right here in Big Sandy, on April the fourth. And they are going to mock and laugh her to scorn. That this so-called "great work," that was preaching the gospel to the world as a witness and then the end will come has met its Waterloo. And we will be the laughing stock of east Texas if there is any publicity at all. Then we will be the laughing stock of anyone who hears about it.

Why are we a laughing stock? We are a laughing stock because we sinned and became Laodicean and thought we were okay. We thought we stood, but, in reality, we had fallen. There are many today who are maintaining that they still have to carry on and preach that gospel. But these scriptures are telling us that we need to look for someone who is preparing the Bride, as the key element of what they are doing and their focus.

And then, what their message is going to be is: (1) preaching peace, unity and harmony along with how that is going to be accomplished; as well as (2) salvation, and all the steps that are required to do it; (3) the sovereignty and providence of God and (4) holiness and righteousness. Those are the key elements.

Now it is up to each and every one of us to begin to look around and find out where these things, that Christ lays out, are being preached. And when we find this kind of message,

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ultimately, we will be led to the right messenger. "Message" and "messenger" go together.

However, perhaps the monkey wrench is that there might be more than one or two people preaching this. There may be three or four, or eight, or fifteen. I don't know. I can look at the major groups fairly easily and see what their focus is and what their message is, but I can't look at all of the four, or five, or six hundred little groups. And there may be a little David out there among the sheep somewhere that I have no knowledge of who is preaching these very same things.

So I'm not saying that, if you find someone who is preaching these things, that is necessarily where God is going to bring the leadership from. That is, Zerubbabel and Joshua or, the two witnesses that we are discussing. He has the option in Himself to raise up whomsoever He chooses.

But I do not think we can at all go wrong by (1) focusing in on what God says is the end time message and (2) getting ourselves in line with it and (3) as a church, focusing on and preaching it. That's what Herbert Armstrong and these scriptures tell us to do. Then, when God does raise up these particular leaders and begins to draw the remnant into one group and bring peace, harmony and unity there we will already be in alignment with it. That is, we will recognize it for what it is.

If it is only a 10% remnant, and Isaiah 1:9 even says a small remnant, at that, most of the church, brethren 90% plus of the Church of God will not recognize who these leaders are. That just blows my mind, but the church has so fast departed from this focus that we read about today.

I think that most of the church if they read Revelation 11 and various other places where it refers to the end-time work are so hung up on already thinking that they are "Philadelphians" and that they are okay. And they think that continuing what Herbert Armstrong started, i.e. preaching the gospel to the world, is the correct focus. So they miss the whole point here. They don't recognize that Haggai and Zechariah are talking about the rebuilding of the church after a hiatus of leadership which Hosea 3 and Micah 4 and several other scriptures talk about--where we have no king, no leader, for a while for an interim period.

"There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up" (Isaiah 51:18).

There is no son, among all of those she has raised, who can lead. And we are in that period right now--where there is simply a dearth of leadership and people with all kinds of different focuses. But God tells us here what the end-time focus has to be. If people do not have this focus, then, obviously, they are not doing what God wants done right now.

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Later on, when we get back down into Revelation 11, the focus does turn to the world. But the reason people can't see what is happening today or, is about to happen with the church is because when they've addressed the subject of the two witnesses all they have thought about is plagues--water turned to blood, no rain on the earth and fire coming out of their mouth and devouring as Revelation 11 clearly shows.

But all that is after their attention turns away from a focus on the church only to that of the world and enters that stage as Moses and Elijah. But since that is all that they have considered, they are not going to recognize the leadership in the church that is teaching the way of peace and salvation and the providence of God and all of those things that we read in Isaiah 52 and Luke 1, which must be preached. Therefore, they don't recognize the leadership ahead of time.

I'm telling you that it is imperative that we understand the message and, therefore, begin to find the messengers before the 1260 starts because that's the beginning of the Tribulation. And the church leaves at that point. So they are left, looking around and saying, "Oh, there they are." But the church is already gone and it is too late. Then, they are in the Tribulation.

Probably less than 10% are going to recognize Zerubbabel and Joshua--who they are--before this comes about, and come together to build the remnant church. As we saw in the beginning of this sermon, even that church, whichever "daughter of Zion" it is that God chooses,… We saw in Micah 4, Proverbs 31 and other places, many references to the daughter of Zion, whom God is going to choose of all the "daughters" and bring and put together the church through. Even she goes through the same things that the rest of the daughters are going through. Therefore, it makes it hard for you and I to recognize where she is or who she is because she is going to suffer the same things as everyone else. Why? She, too, has been Laodicean. She, too, has thought she was okay. She, too, must repent deeply before God.

So it doesn't make any difference which group we are in. Everybody, who is in a group thinks they are in the right group. Otherwise, they'd be in a different group. Okay. This is axiomatic, I think. God says that every last one of the "daughters" is going to go through trouble and division and scattering.

So, whoever we are, if we think we stand, we need to take heed lest we fall. If we think we are spiritually okay, we are in trouble. Read about Laodiceans. It is so dangerous to stand up and say, "I'm Philadelphian. The rest of you are Laodicean."

Where God is working with this message which we have examined today, however many there are, whether it be only two, or whether it be eight, or ten, or fifteen that we don't know about, we need to be looking for this message and finding who all is preaching it [and] where. And we need to get it in line with it because it is the key to recognizing where the messengers are.

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We don't necessarily need to start speculating a great deal about who the messengers are, but we need to focus on the message--the message to us, the message to the church and what Christ has to say about it.

I've been giving Bible Studies, in the various areas that I go to, on Self-deception. I think it is quickly turning to a sermon for the first day of Unleavened Bread because two of the churches of Revelation are totally self-deceived. That's their true standing. Some say they are alive, but they are dead. Others say, "We're okay and rich and increased with goods;" but God says, "You are naked and blind." Now, how deceived can you get?

I'd better shut up. I'm starting to give another sermon here. It is time to end, so we will stop here. But I will say this: Look for the message that we discussed today and you can't go wrong.

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