TUESDAY, JUNE 7
Scripture: Revelation 11:3-6

Revelation 11:3-6 gives us exactly the opposite of what we find in Luke 9. Now the interesting part is, that John is the recipient of the rebuke in Luke 9 and he is the author of Revelation. That in itself should make this a most interesting study. When people stand in the pulpit and use one passage of Scripture against another or they use one passage in preference over another or they use one passage and fail to mention another which directly bears on it, then their prejudices are on display. That person if not confronted may become an isogete. An isogete is someone who does not really want the truth of the passage but just wants their view of how things should be. If we want to make our view of how things should be dominant, then we do not want to give credence to passages that contradict our view. What should we do with Revelation 11:3-7? But once we are forced to look at Revelation 11:3-5, we begin to realize something. There comes a place in the end-times where anybody who comes against the witnesses must die by exactly what James and John were asking. Now let us suppose you have two people who are the witnesses who tell Jesus, “I do not feel like calling down fire.” Could Jesus say to them, “You do not know what spirit you are of”? The Son of Man has come to Judge, save and war against evil. This passage even has in it a statement that speaks volumes about what we are going to face in the last days. Verse 6b says, “…and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire.” Is it not interesting that the man who is rebuked for asking if he could call fire down from heaven writes about a period where those who are anointed and walk in the office he is in, will in fact do what he asked routinely. How far can we be from that? It certainly does not appear we are that far away. Will we be an honest exegete or a dishonest isogete? An honest exegete believes these two scriptures fit together without contradiction. If James and John had been allowed to call down fire from heaven, the word would have gone out all over Israel and nobody would have condemned Jesus. If they had exercised what they wanted, the plan of salvation would have been aborted because of fear of reprisal.