That party fell apart
11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come. (Revelation 11:11-14–ESV)
Jesus rose from the dead and so did these fellows. The world had seen them do miracles for all those years and in the doing of them and in the preaching they offered the convictions of sin rolled through the hearts and minds of humanity. Conviction is painful and the people came under it. The great “Whew!” that happened with the death of the constant reminders was brought back full force with their resurrection.
If they harmed the world and the people during their life and the world killed them what would be next. The world would find out.
The world heard a voice from heaven and these men were taken there. The world filled with the enemies of God would stand rebellious, stiff necked and ready to fight to any bitter end.
While they may have been defiant in watching them go surely a great sense of “what’s next” must have been poignant to the point be being felt. While they were feeling that in their hearts the earth shook and a large number of those in Jerusalem were escorted immediately from life into the realm of death. Those who did not die gave glory to God. They were scared into worship. God’s name was holy. A showdown on the earth had developed and no matter what the intellectuals, the bold, the arrogant, the professors of atheism or other religions think all on earth know God is God indeed. Having felt conviction, having felt a difficult life on earth, having known the elation of their tormentor’s death and then to have it all snatched from them was as exhausting a thing as could be imagined. No happily-ever-after would have been known or expected for the people of earth. Except for those in the measured temple where God had had them measured off and protected.
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