This passage offers an interpretive challenge to a verse that seems to say that the people of God actually commit violent acts against their enemies. However, when you look beneath the surface of this complex imagery, it actually paints a picture of the way of the cruciform Christ and how the church overcomes through peace.
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Testify to the Way of Peace
• Greg Boyd
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In this passage, we read how the followers of the Lamb are turned into killing machines. They have power to cause massive droughts, to turn water into blood and to strike the world with plagues. What is going on here? It seems so contradictory to the imagery of the slain Lamb and the encouragement to the suffering martyrs. Most Christians today, and through history, have taken this passage to mean that the church must sometimes bear witness to the truth by engaging in violence. It’s the mindset that drove the Crusades, the Inquisition and all the other violence the Church has supported throughout history.
The fact is that if you want to find a violent God who inspires violent people in the book of Revelation, you will find it. But if you begin by placing your trust in the character of the God revealed in the slain Lamb, then you know that there is something else going on here. Greg walks us through four points to help us unpack this passage to see what is really being said.
First, the victory of the two witnesses comes through their martyrdom. We read this in Revelation 11:7-12 and 12:11-12. This is the consistent message throughout the book of Revelation. They actually experienced the same kind of death that Jesus suffered. It looks like they are defeated and all is lost. But they are eventually victorious. They lose in the short term, but the way of peace wins in the long run. This means that if their martyrdom is the way of ultimate victory, we cannot conclude that they used violence to remain alive.
Second, the two witnesses don’t actually use their destructive power. If we read verse 6 carefully, we see that they had the power, but we are never told that they employed it. When God gives someone spiritual gifts or power, it augments, rather than undermines, that person’s free will. It increases what they can do with their free will. These witnesses had the power to do mighty things, but they chose the way of cruciform love.
Third, violence is contrary to the meaning of the two olive trees. This imagery is rooted in Zechariah 4. There we see that the two olive trees represent the truth that it’s not by might, not by power, but by the Spirit that mighty mountains are laid low and that Israel will be healed, and ultimately restored. God’s ways are not brought about by force or compulsion. They are instilled in our lives through relationship with God’s Spirit.
The final point is that violence contradicts the teachings and example of Jesus. Greg points out that in Luke 9:52-55, we find that Jesus not only taught peace, he rebuked the disciples when they suggested that they call down fire to destroy those who rejected him. The peace that is intrinsic to cruciform love is not an option. It is essential to the way of walking with Jesus.
What does the violent symbolism in verses 5 and 6 mean? We might summarize it this way: We have the priestly and prophetic power of Moses and Elijah. But we do not use that power the violent way they used it in the Old Testament. Instead, we opt for the way of the two witnesses in Revelation 11. We trust in the power of the Spirit and follow the way of the Lamb. We walk in the way of self-sacrificial love, symbolized by the two olive trees and fueled by God’s Spirit.
Greg closed the sermon by leading us in a corporate confession, which is included below:
Corporate Confession
Leader: In an age when many strive for their best life now,
All: We proclaim the fullness of life in Christ—
a gift that frees us from all anxious striving.
Leader: In an age when violence seems to reign,
All: We bear witness to the peace of Christ—
a peace that rules our hearts and stills the storms.
Leader: In an age of deception and despair,
All: We proclaim the truth of the slain Lamb,
and the hope that shines from His empty tomb.
Leader: In an age of division and discord,
All: We testify to the unity of the Spirit,
the harmony of heaven breaking into earth.
Leader: In an age that calls hatred “normal” and enmity “just,”
All: We bear witness to the Father’s love—
a love as steady as the shining sun,
as indiscriminate as the falling rain.
Leader: In an age that trusts in human power and human pride,
All: We confess it is not by might, nor by power,
but by God’s Spirit that every mountain shall be cast down.
All: And so, by the breath of that same Spirit,
we renounce all violence in thought, word, and deed.
We yield our hearts, our minds, our hands,
to reflect the unrelenting love of Abba Father—
for all people, in all places, at all times, without exception.
Amen.
Topics: Holy Spirit, Peace, Power
Sermon Series: Testify!
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The MuseCast: August 19
Focus Scripture:
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Revelation 11:1-6
I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. ”They are “the two olive trees” and the two lamp stands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.” If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.
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