The Angel of the Covenant

Good morning and welcome, it's good to see everyone again. We are continuing our study of the two witnesses, and today we're looking at another aspect that we haven't really looked at before, and that is regarding the angel of the covenant. Now, the covenant relates back to the sanctuary in the wilderness when Moses received the instruction to build the sanctuary so that God could dwell with the people.

One of the items of furniture was the Ark of the Covenant. That's what this is relating to. The angel of the covenant is referring to one of the angels that was formed in representation on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant.

So let's just look at that passage in Exodus chapter 25, where it describes how they were to construct that mercy seat. "...and thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof." Looking something kind of like this, the mercy seat is this lid to the Ark, and part of the mercy seat, as we will read, includes these two angels on either side.

It says, "...and thou shalt make two cherubims," those are the angels, "...of gold of beaten work shalt thou make them in the two ends of the mercy seat, and make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end. Even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another toward the mercy seat, shall the faces of the cherubims be." So these cherubims, or angels, they are stretching out their wings to cover the mercy seat.

That's part of their role, and we'll see later on a description of the covering cherub. It's talking about that aspect of their covering of the mercy seat. "...and thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the Ark, and in the Ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee." That's the Ten Commandments.

The two tables of stone were put inside the Ark, and then that was covered with the lid, this golden mercy seat, with its two angels on either side. So this is, in representation, the throne of God, with the two witnesses on either side of the throne, and in the middle was where God himself would sit. And because he didn't sit as a person, but he was a light, they call it the Shekinah glory, that would rest above the Ark.

And in fact, even outside the tabernacle, the people would see the pillar of cloud or the pillar of fire rising above the Ark of the Covenant, in that area of the tabernacle on the outside. So the people had a visual, they had visual evidence of God's presence with them. So when we look in the heavens, we see this same thing being represented in the sign of the Son of Man.

And we've seen this before, where there are the ten constellations that are touched by the loop part of the sign, not counting this part back here, but it touches ten constellations, and each one represents a different commandment. The symbolism connects with different parts of the commandments, or different commandments. For example, the fourth commandment is the commandment about time, the Sabbath, and so that relates to the Horologium.

And those are the two tables of stone in the heavens that were put inside the Ark of the Covenant. And so the paths of the comments represent the Ark itself, with the commandments inside the Ark. And then on either side of the Ark are the two witnesses.

One is here in Orion, and the other one is on this end, the Horologium. We'll talk more later about why it is also part of the commandments. And at the same time, it doubles as the covering cherub on that side.

But in Revelation chapter 11, where it talks about the two witnesses, it mentions this aspect of their being olive trees. It says, these are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. That refers to the vision of Zechariah.

In Zechariah chapter 4, verse 14, he says, then said he, these are the two anointed ones. They were anointed with oil. And so that corresponds with the olive trees on either side.

The two cherubim were anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. They stand on either side of the throne of God, the Lord of the whole earth. So when they are called anointed ones, what that means is they're dedicated for service.

In ancient times, they would anoint the kings and the priests for serving in that capacity. And that's what this is referring to. These two cherubim were anointed for their particular service.

The question is, what kind of service did they do? What was expected of these two cherubim? And that's where the prophecy of Malachi gives us some instruction. In Malachi chapter 3, it says, behold, I will send my messenger. Now the word messenger is the same word in the Hebrew as the word for angel.

So an angel is the same as a messenger. And these cherubim are just a type of angel. And so when he's saying here in this passage, I will send my messenger, he's speaking of one of those angels.

In fact, some translations use the word angel there instead. And he shall prepare the way before me. So this is the Lord speaking.

And he says, I will send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger, the angel of the covenant, whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.

So there's two people being, or two angels being referenced here. First, we have the Lord's messenger. He shall prepare the way before me, before the Lord.

And then there's the Lord himself. He is called the messenger of the covenant. So Jesus, the son of God, is one of these covering cherubim.

He is on one side, and on the other side is his messenger. This is now looking in the heavenly realm, where we're talking about the throne of God. There's the father, and then his son, Jesus, on the one side.

He's the messenger of the covenant, and his messenger is on the other side. The prophecy continues, and it gives us a better understanding of the application of this verse, because it says, he shall prepare the way before me. Now, who does that bring to mind? John the Baptist.

John the Baptist came preparing the way for Jesus. That was his role. And therefore, it says of him, he came in the spirit and power of Elijah as God's messenger.

And we'll talk a little bit more about that as well. But the prophecy continues, and it says, but who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's 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. It's talking about that hot furnace, like we've talked about before. That they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

So, he's coming to purify his people in a priestly office, because it's talking about the sons of Levi. They were the priests, and that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

And I will come near to you to judgment, and will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right. And fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. And then he says, for I am the Lord, Yahweh.

I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. So, first of all, what does this tell us about the time? Is this talking about his first coming? It seems to be more connected with his second coming, right? It's talking about who can abide the day of his coming, and that when he sits as a refiner and purifier of silver, purifying the sons of Levi, that's referring to our time.

That's what he is doing now. But it doesn't mean that it doesn't apply to the first coming. We'll see that later, where Jesus himself connects this prophecy with John the Baptist, that he was the one who prepared the way for Jesus, the Messiah, in his first coming.

But it also relates to his second coming, because in reality, Jesus, when he came the first time, he could have, had circumstances been different, he could have finished his work at that time. If his people accepted him, and they received his testimony, and believed that he had come to cleanse the nation and to be their Messiah, they would have changed the whole course of history. Anyway, this prophecy applies both to Jesus' time when he was on earth, and to our time now, just before his coming.

But what does this last verse mean? He says, For I am Yahweh the Lord, I change not. And then he says, Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. In the past, when I read that, it always seemed like, why is that the consequence of God's not changing? Why is it that because God doesn't change, we're not consumed? It didn't seem to fit.

Yeah, the sons of Jacob, the people of Israel, the children of Israel. And after last week's message, I think we can understand this more clearly. Because when he says, I change not, that's when he swears his oath, and he doesn't go back on that.

He doesn't change, even though his people have forsaken him. And it's because he doesn't change that his mercy is available to us, and we're not consumed. It goes back to his name.

And that's why he says, For I am the Lord, I am Yahweh. That's these four Hebrew letters written in the ancient script here. First is the yod, the hand.

And we see that, as we've talked about once before, the hand as that comet pointing to Orion, him swearing the oath. That's what the yod means, in connection with the hay pointing to the spirit, yod, hay, and then the vav. What does that represent? It's the tent peg or the nail.

And in the setting of the cross, it points to the other comet that goes to the cross. And so you have in his very name, the oath, he swears with his hand. And that he will not change, though he be nailed to the cross.

So, I am Yahweh. I swear to my own hurt and change not. Therefore, the sons of Jacob are not consumed.

So, when we look again at that prophecy, Behold, I will send my messenger. What is the role of that messenger? We have Christ on one side, who has committed to the covenant to give his blood when needed. And on the other side, he has his messenger.

Now, there are a couple of prophecies in the Bible that relate to the position of that messenger. And we're going to look at those. The first one being in Isaiah chapter 14, beginning with verse 12.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? Lucifer was the original covering cherub. He was the original messenger. The name Lucifer is a Latin form that means light bearer.

But the Hebrew word is the morning star. It means the morning star. It refers to Venus that comes up in the morning just before dawn.

So, he says, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, morning star, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations? And here we see that definition from the Strongs. And just to illustrate, in the early morning, just before sunrise, when the sky is brightening up a little bit there at that time, you can see Venus still brightly shining when all the other stars are fading away into the brightness of the sun. And so, Venus in this way, it illustrates that preparing of the way.

First, Venus comes up and then comes the sun. First, the little light, if you will, and then the glory of Christ himself. Amen.

In Isaiah, he continues, For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. This is describing how Lucifer fell. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.

Where are the stars of God? Where is his throne? In Orion, those are the stars of Orion, the stars that represent God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation. Here is the mount of the congregation.

That's where the seven churches, God's people, are represented. In the sides or far reaches of the north, he wants to have dominion over all of the creation, even to the far reaches of the earth. And then he says, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, like Orion above the clouds of the comets.

I will be like the most high. So these were the thoughts of Lucifer when he fell. That's the pride that he had that led him to fall from that position of being the light bearer, being the one who would prepare the way, who would signal the way for Jesus to come.

Another prophecy is in Ezekiel, chapter 28. And these prophecies are given in, well, it says, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus. So it's directed to the king of Tyrus.

But you can tell from the language that it serves a dual purpose. Yes, there was an ancient application to that particular king. But as we continue, you'll see it also very clearly connects to Satan or Lucifer.

And say unto him, thus said the Lord God, thou sealest up the sun full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. The king of Tyre wasn't in Eden, but the devil was.

Every precious stone was thy covering. And then it lists the stones. And I think it's interesting how many it lists because it says sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold.

Ten different stones that are listed as his covering. These are precious stones, gemstones. They're colorful, beautiful.

It says every precious stone was thy covering. And they were his beauty as well. And when we see 10 stones and we know the 10 constellations representing the 10 commandments as a covering, the commandments serve as a covering.

They're the righteousness. For us, it's the righteousness of Christ because he kept the law and we take his righteousness. But originally, all of God's creation had the law in their heart to begin with.

And so, it was their beauty, their righteousness as well. But we'll see that it caused him to stumble. There we have the 10 commandments in that part of the sign corresponding to those 10 beautiful gems.

The workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Now, tabrets are like a tambourine, a musical instrument, and they would often ornament them so that they would be more beautiful. And the pipes is actually a word that refers to the ring in which the gemstone would be fixed.

And so, it's referring to that aspect of holding those gemstones that were his covering. And so, you can kind of imagine that ring there with each gemstone fixed into place. Thou art the anointed cherub.

So, here we see it's describing very clearly, not the king of Tyre, but Lucifer when he was the covering cherub at the throne of God with the gemstones of the commandments as his covering. It was that covering that Adam and Eve lost when they sinned. They broke the commandments and then they were naked.

They lost that spiritual beauty of the law of God as their righteousness. So, he's described as the anointed cherub that covereth. And I have set thee so.

Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God. Again, the reference to the sign of the Son of Man with the people of God. Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Walking up and down like we saw last week. In the midst, here it says the stones of fire. And I think we can, having connected the stones with the commandments, the fire also suggests the heavenly setting with all of the stars.

Yeah, the spirits like fire as well. That may fit in the heavenly realm, what it's pointing to. And here, with the 10 commandments, we see that the covering cherub is identified with the fourth commandment.

Now, what is special about the fourth commandment? It points to God as the creator. That's a good point because it's looking outward. It's the commandment that says, remember your creator.

But it's also the commandment that has God's seal. So, here we see with the Sabbath commandment as though it were a seal on the head of the anointed one on that side. So, we have Orion on this side representing Christ.

And then the anointed one on that side sealed with God's seal in the Sabbath. It has the three parts of the seal, sealed with the image of God, the number of God, and the Sabbath itself representing the seal of the Holy Spirit in the forehead. So, I think that is why we see that commandment in particular, not just any of the commandments, but the seal on the anointed cherub on that side.

So, continuing on in the prophecy, he says, thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created till iniquity was found in thee. So, this covering cherub, Lucifer, was the first one to sin. And he is the originator of sin.

It came from him. And then it describes how that happened. It says, by the multitude of thy merchandise, they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned.

Therefore, I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God. Again, the mountain of God and the Horologium representing this anointed one. It also represents the wrath of God— this aspect of being cast out as profane out of the mountain of God. But first, I want to point out this with the merchandise. Merchandising is convincing, being a salesperson, convincing somebody to buy your wares. But it involves trade.

It's about trade. And we'll see that a little bit more as we continue. He says, and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

Thine heart was lifted up. Why? Because of thy beauty. Now that's interesting.

What did the beauty point to? The Ten Commandments. So his heart was lifted up because, we'll just say for now, because of the Ten Commandments. And we'll look at that a little more detail in a second.

Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee.

So by reason of his brightness, you know, Venus is the brightest star. And by reason of thy brightness, he corrupted his wisdom. And of course, being represented in the Horologium, we see then this connection to the wisdom, the knowledge.

And in fact, we, if we turn this around, we've seen that before in the lamp of the wise, whose light is burning brightly at the Horologium, giving that message of time. So this angel has brightness, but he corrupted his wisdom. And his beauty made his heart lifted up.

So what happened? How does the law, the Ten Commandments, his beauty, how did that make his heart become lifted up? How does his brightness corrupt his wisdom? How did that happen? What had to happen first in order for those things to have a corrupting influence? Exactly. He was, his attention necessarily had to be on himself because his heart was lifted up because of his beauty. That means he saw it as his beauty.

He was covered in these beautiful gemstones, of course, figurative language, but referring to the righteousness, and he saw it as his own. It became self-righteousness. It was no longer that he was looking across at the mercy of God.

He wasn't looking to see Jesus, but he began to look at himself. And he said, this is my beauty. This is my brightness.

Whereas the reality, Venus is a bright star, but where does it get its light? It's 100% from the sun. It just reflects the light of the sun brightly. And the oil comes from the Father.

So his brightness is not his own. Yes, if we look back here, we can see that the heart is represented at this part of the sign, his heart being lifted up. And there he wanted, like we read in Isaiah, he wanted to take the place of the most high, being lifted up.

And when you're lifted up, you see things from a different perspective. I remember when I was young, when I became a teenager, I had grown significantly from the time when I had been in a grade school, and I had the idea to go and visit. And when I went back to this school where I had been several years before when I was still small, everything seemed so little.

I was looking around, and it just felt like it was so much smaller than when I remembered it as a child. As a child, when I was in the school, I didn't think about it, of course, but everything seems a lot bigger. But then as I grew, and I came back, now the ceiling is lower, and everything feels so much more cramped and smaller in comparison.

And so your perspective changes when you're lifted up. No longer are you like a child looking up to the others around you, but you're high and lifted up looking down instead. So, we see that it was a change of perspective.

He began to see the merit in himself. He took those things that came from God, the righteousness, the brightness of the light from the throne, and he said, that's mine. And it became self-righteousness.

And so, it's a very real danger that we all have the closer we come to Christ because he's the bright light, and when we're in his presence and we're reflecting his light, we have to be sure that we don't start to look at that and say, that's mine. We have many amazing revelations that God has given us in the heavens, but we should never take glory from that because that glory, that brightness belongs to the Lord. And so, we have to look up, as it were, like a little child and recognize that these are blessings from God and not our own intelligence that discovered these things.

Because if the Holy Spirit didn't provide it, no matter how intelligent or how diligently we apply ourselves to studying these things, it wouldn't come. It's a revelation, and that's why it's called the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's because it's his gift, his brightness, his revelation, and his righteousness as well.

Finishing off the prophecy here, it says, Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries, or holy things, by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic, that is, trading. Back to this theme of merchandising. When one trades, you exchange something.

You give something and you get something back in return, right? Whether it's bartering something, as they often did in ancient times where you would give one item and get a different item in exchange, or using money, paying money and getting something in return, there's always that exchange, and that's called trafficking or trading. But let me ask, if you are a candle or a lamp, do you make an exchange? Or is it only giving the light? It's only one way. The light is only going out, and it's not a traffic, it's not a trading transaction.

It's simply the light being given. And so, with this idea of trading, we see that there's something added, and that something is coming back to the covering cherub. Instead of just giving the light that he sees, instead of reflecting it out to others, he is doing a transaction.

He's taking something for himself. Some of that glory he's taking for himself. So, in this symbolism of the merchandising, trading back and forth, we see self-exaltation taking part in that glory that doesn't belong to him, but only to God.

Therefore, will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee. Remember, he's represented in the Horologium, and there's the fire from the midst of him, that light. It shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee.

Now, that's an interesting verse. I won't dwell long on that, but let's read this last verse first. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee.

Thou shalt be a terror or an alarm, and never shalt thou be anymore. Now, this is one verse that is clear about Satan's fate. He fell from his position as the covering cherub, and it says that this fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee.

Many people have this concept of the lake of fire as an eternally burning fire that never consumes, but even of Satan, it says, it shall devour thee. It will consume thee and bring thee to ashes. Ashes don't burn.

They're what's left, and so this is talking about an annihilation, the complete end of Satan. Never shalt thou be. You won't exist anymore, and I think that's quite concrete language and very difficult to explain away as in some other form, because it's very clear that this passage relates indeed to Satan, to Lucifer as the covering cherub.

So I just wanted to mention that because many people don't understand that aspect. God is a devouring fire, not a fire that just burns and burns and burns but doesn't ever devour. So the question is, when Lucifer fell from this position, did it leave a vacancy? Is there now only one cherub at the Ark of the Covenant or what happened there? And this is where Jesus weighs in on the matter and sheds some light.

And in Matthew 11, verse 9, he says, But what went ye out for to see, speaking of John the Baptist? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. What is he referring to? He continues, for this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. So this is what I mentioned before, where Jesus is confirming that the prophecy of Malachi, where he speaks of his messenger preparing the way, he applies that to John the Baptist.

But it's clear also that it applies at the end of time when Jesus comes the second time. And Jesus also confirms that John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah, but that Elijah would also come again. We talked about that once before.

And so that confirms this twice coming of the messenger. First, the messenger came in the form of John the Baptist in the spirit and power of Elijah. Now we can understand what that means.

Where does that spirit and power of Elijah come from? What does it represent? It's the authority that comes from the throne of God, from this covering cherub. He is the one who is as the spirit of Elijah that was given to John the Baptist and is given again in our day preparing the way for the second coming of the Lord. In Luke it says, and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias.

That is, John the Baptist should go before Jesus in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. So that's a reference again to the covering cherubim being covered with the stones of fire, the 10 commandments in their spiritual form. The disobedient, turning the disobedient back to the wisdom represented in the horologium of the just.

Also, like we saw last week, pointing to the horologium to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. So that is part of that preparation. It's turning the disobedient back to the law of God, not in the concrete sense of the literal tables of stone like they had in Israel, but turning to the law as being written in the heart.

That's the spiritual law written in the heart. That's the genetics of our Father written in our very flesh, as it were, and coming back also to the wisdom of the just. So John the Baptist had that role in the days of the New Testament, and a different John, as I mentioned once before, has that role in our day.

That is, the John that came in the spirit and power of Elijah today to prepare the way in this same way of bringing the people back to the law, showing how these things are fulfilled, how the heavens reveal the character of Christ. It's simply a matter of fact. You can explore and search all around, and you will find there are people and ministries who point to the heavens, and they teach good things from there, but there is a unique character to the message that is coming from this ministry because it comes with this authority from the throne of God, from the covering cherub that turns the people, the disobedient, back to the wisdom of the just.

And the founder of this ministry was named John in connection also with John the Baptist and the Apostle John as well, like it is mentioned in Revelation 1 at the beginning. The revelation of Jesus Christ, so his revealing, which God gave unto him, unto Jesus, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.

So we see where it's coming from. The revelation is coming from God, from the Father, which he gave unto Jesus, to show unto his servants. So it's this cascading effect from the Father to the Son, from the Son to his servants who are the angels because Jesus sent and signified it in the symbols of the revelation by his angel to his servant John.

So then the angel gives it to John the Revelator, or the Apostle John. So we see that progression from the Father to the Son, from the Son to his messenger, his angel, that's who it's referring to here, that angel on the other side of the throne. And then the angel came to John and presented the revelation.

So that's the sequence. And it's not a coincidence that the leader of this movement is also named John in that relationship because it's here where we see the entire revelation unfolded and truly revealed in the heavens. There's no other ministry that has that complete package.

There are good things here and there, but they don't all fit together in one package like what God has given to us through this process. And Jesus said, Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So Jesus is pointing out how this one-way flow should work, going from the Father and the light.

He says, your light, that light that is given to us, we let it shine to others, that they may see our good works, which is the righteousness of Christ, the Ten Commandments, as they're lived in our life, they're in our life, in our being, part of who we are, our character, and then give glory to the Father. Not to us, we don't take the glory, but the Father gets the glory. And this is contrasted with Lucifer's approach.

And we see that very well when we look in the story of the temptation, when Jesus was in the wilderness and Satan came and tempted him. And the third time it says, again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. And then he saith unto him, all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

So there we see that exchange, that merchandising, again, that Lucifer is known for. I give you all this glory and you give me worship. He wanted the worship.

And this is how he himself lived. That's how he fell. He wanted a part of that glory. And so he offers a part of that glory. He says, here's all the kingdoms.

I give you a lot of glory in all of these kingdoms of the earth, all of their glory. He didn't show them the slums of the kingdoms. He showed them the glory of the kingdoms.

And he said, I'll give you all of these things if you will fall down and worship me. But this same principle, though we would never in our sophisticated age fall down and worship somebody, yet we might be tempted to take part in the glory that belongs to God, in the worship that belongs to God alone. Notice how this angel that gave the revelation to the apostle John interacted with him.

This is now at the end of the revelation. He's so overwhelmed with everything that he has seen. And he says, and I, John, saw these things and heard them.

And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, which showed me these things. So you can see he's just so overwhelmed with all of this that he saw that he falls down and he is bowing down at the angel, at the feet of this angel who showed him, which is, as we saw, the covering cherub who comes in the spirit and power of Elijah to reveal. And then said he unto me, that is this angel, see thou do it not for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren, the prophets and of them, which keep the sayings of this book, worship God.

So he makes it clear that the worship is to go to God alone. So how do we worship today? Because, and I don't mean consciously when we come to a worship service, but how does Satan subtly trick us into giving worship? Do you have any ideas? What is an example of how someone might worship somebody else today? They're not going to fall down at somebody's feet like John did at the angel, but... Okay, that is a more literal aspect, adoring the idols in the churches or the temples. Okay, if something is too important in your life, you give it too much attention, right? You pay too much attention to these things or people.

So for example, if somebody gives a wonderful presentation or does a great act, and then you say, oh wow, you know, you give them adoration. That adoration is a form of worship. And that's one way where we see a very prominent means of worship in our society today, through the adoration of sports figures, of Hollywood figures, musicians. Thank you. Even the pastors and priests, anybody that you look up to in a way that is not treating them as a fellow servant, but you put too much emphasis on how great they are, too much adoration on a mere mortal, a mere human. Worship God.

It's to God that we give our adoration. Another class of people that we adore in a perhaps more subtle way even are the so-called experts. We surrender our own judgment to the doctors and other people, scientists, that we think they have all the great knowledge.

Oh, you wonderful scientist. We have this picture in our minds of the scientist at the chalkboard with all these math equations, and we just look at that and go, oh wow, you're so intelligent. That's far beyond anything I can imagine.

And it's similar with the doctors. We look at them as though they're wonder workers, and we give too much emphasis on those abilities that are good, they're useful, they're gifts from God, and we ought to direct our praise and worship to God. So the throne of God is flanked by these two anointed ones who have a particular mission.

Jesus was anointed for his mission on earth. He came to the earth and ministered salvation to the whole world. And the other covering cherub was also sent to the world, and that's in the form of Elijah, John the Baptist who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and those in the last day who come in the spirit and power of Elijah, who receive this message and turn their lives and hearts to the Lord and give him the praise and the worship that he alone deserves, because he is the creator of all things, including the cherubim themselves.

And it is his law that sits at the foundation of the throne. The law is described as a stone, and even in the spiritual sense it's described as stones of fire. And the stone can be used in two ways, as Jesus illustrated it.

God sits on the stone, on the law. He sits on that foundation of the law. But when that law is broken, then it's reversed, and then we're under the law until we find Christ, and he reverses that just like we saw before.

Instead of the wrath, he brings us to the, we can see it here, he brings us back to life from being under the penalty of the law. And so we want to be not under the law, but with the law as our foundation. Just like it's the foundation of God's throne, it should also be the foundation of our character.

So with that, I think that wraps up our study of the two witnesses. This was the last aspect, I mean there's always many more things that you can explore, but the last major aspect of the two witnesses, I think, were these two anointed ones on either side of the throne of God. One, Jesus, our example, and he's the one that we give our praise and honor to.

And ultimately, that's what this battle is all about. It's about understanding who is who. Is it we? Do we do right to receive any part of that glory? Or is it Jesus? You know, Jesus is very humble.

He takes the form of an angel, and they're both described equally. They were formed in the sanctuary on the mercy seat. When they formed them out of gold, they were made to look the same.

But one is the son of God, and the other one is created. And we must always recognize and remember our creator. Remember that we are just like little children looking up to our creator.

He is the Lord. He is the one who changes not, and he is our example. And so with that, let's stand for a word of prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, as we've gone through this study of the two witnesses in the various aspects that they are presented in your word, it's really amazing to see how much you pack into that story and how much it shows us about you, about your throne, and about your people, your people, your kingdom, and how we are called to reflect your character. You've shown us your character, how you have sworn and change not, though it cost your life, the life of your son, and that was a sacrifice for you as much as for your son. And so we thank you.

We praise you for this incredible message of hope and encouragement, of mercy, and yet also of justice. We thank you for every aspect of your character, and we ask that you will write that character in our hearts, that we may reflect your light and be as a light set on a hill, shining out like a bright city, shining out to the whole world, that the world may look at your people and see something very remarkable, that they may see a difference, that they may see you, because your character is in us. That is our desire and our prayer, and we ask these things in the name of he who was wounded for us, who took the nail in his hands from the foundation of the world, knowing in advance what it would require, and yet not changing.

We thank you, Father. We praise your name. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, Alnitak of Orion.

Amen. Thank you, and we'll see you again next week.