TEXT:
And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” (Revelation 11:3)
“God is all sufficient. He has in Himself:
-all power to defend you
-all wisdom to direct you
-all mercy to pardon you
-all grace to save you
-all righteousness to clothe you
-all goodness to supply you
-and all joy to crown you.” -Thomas Watson
Authority
(11:3)
-given by God
-prophesy
-clothed in sackcloth
SACKCLOTH
That describes their duty, if you’re keeping an outline, that describes their duty. Secondly, let’s look at their attitude…at their attitude. Verse 3 says, “They are clothed in sackcloth.” Sackcloth is about as primitive a garment as you can imagine. You know what sackcloth is, basically it’s what you bring home potatoes in, rough, coarse, heavy. And it was used in ancient times uniquely by the prophets, read Isaiah 22:12, Jeremiah 6:26. And the reason the prophets used it was whenever they were prophesying judgment, they took a mourning posture—- m-o-u-r-n-i-n-g, a sad posture and a posture of humility. It was expressive of sadness. It was expressive of humility. It was expressive of penitence. When people wanted to repent they would clothe themselves in sackcloth and put ashes on their heads. That’s what the truly repentant Jew would do, Matthew 11:21, Luke 10:13 talks about that.
So here are these two prophets and their attitude is humility. And their attitude is sorrow, sadness. They’re not dressed in festival garments. They’re not happy about what is coming, judgment, damnation. It is then worn by these two express the great sorrow and mourning they feel over the wicked, over the wretched world, the judgment of God falling constantly around them in the seal and the trumpet and the bowl judgments. They’re mourning over the desecration of the temple. They’re mourning over the ascendancy of Antichrist. They’re mourning over the devastation of Jerusalem…sackcloth. (SOURCE: Pastor John MacArthur, Grace to You)
