This has to be one of, if not my favorite part of the book of Revelation. By the way this is one of the few parts the popular Left Behind series got right on the button. Two witnesses are sent by God to prophesy about the Lord. They are much like John the Baptist in the Gospels. They stand out from the normal crowd by their appearance, and by their message. It seems as though they were given nearly unlimited power from God to communicate their message. Bringing plagues when they wanted, fire from their mouths at those who would come against them.
However, even these prophets when the time was right were done in by the beast of the Abyss. Yet, that is not where their witness ends, after three and a half days, that sounds familiar, they are given the breath of Life. The people are amazed, and begin to worship God as the two prophets are raised up on a cloud. Then something amazing happens that is easy to miss. Victory is proclaimed. "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.". That is a victory claim. What millions have prayed in the Lord's prayer will come true, May your kingdom come!
With these fantastic scenes which stretch our thinking and imagination we find the victory we are told about coming into reality. Now the battle is not finished for a few more chapters, but victory has been proclaimed. We are left with the question, do we claim the victory that has been given? Most of us, not the us, walking around acting defeated more often than not. Things do not work out as we have planned them, our hopes and dreams seem to be on hold, or delayed indefinitely, so we feel defeated. We have the victory! When we allow Christ to lead our lives, when we realize it is him who has won, we gain that victory. While we wait for the days which unfold in the book of Revelation, we know what will happen. Therefore we are called to be people who live the victory today. That victory was won the moment Christ arrived in the manger years ago. Are you ready to be a victorious person?
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