I don't remember if I was on that thread by Doulos or not. If I was, I hope I was cogent. <smile>
But to answer your question: To understand Rev11:9, we must look at the rest of the 2nd Woe, accept the figurative nature of Revelation and recognize the validity of prophetic days representing years, as the Lord told Ezekiel in Eze 4:5-6 . . .
Revelation 9:13-15, KJV "And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns (Rev 4:6-7) of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound (through prayer, the Church bound the works of Satan, Mat 16:19) in the great river Euphrates (This gives the geographic location, the Middle East. The Euphrates begins in Syria and runs between Iraq and Iran. But when the Coptic Church went into apostasy, no longer spiritually bound Satan and Islam began. Satan and his angels were loosed to attack the holy land). And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men."
The second woe is fulfilled by those four angels, but what did they do?
Time ends when the Last Trumpet blows in Rev 11:15, so these four angels must be released between Rev 9:14 and Rev 11:15! Searching Rev 9:13 through Rev 11:15. Do you see those four angels anywhere?
Take a look . . . Yes? No?
Oops, no four angels, but there is another clue to their identity . . .Time!The hour, day, month and year.
Revelation 9:14 . . . "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river EuphrateThe Euphrates river runs through the Middle East so these angels are released from within Islam!
Revelation 11:2 . . . Gentiles tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months. It was exactly 42 months (1278.34 years from the construction of the Islamic Dome of the Rock to the freeing of Jerusalem in 1967. A month is 30.437 days x 42=1278.34. Do the math yourself: 1967-1278.34=688AD and the construction of Abomination that Maketh Desolate.
Revelation 11:3 . . . Witnesses prophesy in the Gentile world for twelve hundred and sixty days. It was 1260 years from the construction of the Islamic Dome of the Rock to the new nation of Israel in 1948. Do the math yourself Dome of the Rock 688AD+1260 =1948. Even a 1st grader could do this one.
Revelation 11:13 . . . in that hour there was a great (spiritual) earthquake. The return of Jesus, still future.
So these "messengers" relate to Islam in the Holy Land, but where is the Year?
Spiritual Results of the Angels Loosed
Revelation 9:17-19 "And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone (all figurative). By these three was the third part of men killed (before the first Jihad, there were three major branches to the Church, the Coptic centered in Jerusalem, the Eastern Orthodox centered in Constantinople and the Roman Church headquartered in Rome. Islamic armies virtually destroyed the Coptic Church, and thus was "a third part of men" killed) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, (all figures of the false religion of Islam) which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt."
Army of the Enemy
Revelation 9:16 "And the number of the army of the horse-men were two hundred thousand thousand (in Greek, doo-o moo-ree’-as moo-ree’-as, defined as: two times innumerably many) and I heard the number of them."
So who are these Horsemen?
The almost 2,000,000,000 Muslims who have been a plague on the rest of the world ever since the days of Muhammad.
Islam is God’s Judgment on the Church
Revelation 9:20-21 "And the rest of the men which were not killed (the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Churches) by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood (we have different "idols" today, TV, a new car, a bigger home, a power boat, a better job . . . different material things but they are idols just the same): which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders (the Roman church killed millions during the Middle Ages), nor of their sorceries (in Greek: á ìá ßá, pharmakea, defined medication, i.e., drug abuse, be it alcohol or any other mind-altering substance), nor of their fornication (divorce, remarriage and casual sex), nor of their thefts."
But the Year, where is it?
Hidden in hemera, an ambiguous koine` Greek word that can be translated moment, day, time or YEAR, depending on context. In the NAS, (Strong’s 2250g) is translated year in twelve verses. If 3 ½ hay-me`-ra are 3 ½ years, then 3.5 x 365.24 = 1278.34 day-years. From Dome of the Rock to a free Jerusalem is exactly 1278.34 years. Viewed in that way, we can now understand the rest of Revelation 11.
The Three & a Half Years
Revelation 11:8-11, NAS (Excerpts) "And their dead bodies (Greek: pto’-ma, by definition: a fall, a ruin, the carcass, the bones, i.e., the empty churches.) will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified (Jerusalem). And those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations (the Moslems in the surrounding lands) will look at their dead bodies (the empty churches)for three and a half days (Years of day-years, i.e., from 688AD to 1967AD) and will not permit their dead bodies (the empty churches) to be laid in a tomb (to be torn down). And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets (the Christians and Jews) tormented those who dwell on the earth" (it is torment for the lost when the gospel is preached and they refuse to repent).
Spiritual Death of the Witnesses
Revelation 11:7 "And when they (The Two Witnesses) shall have finished their testimony (among the Gentile nations, 1948-1967), the beast (Satan) that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make (spiritual) war against them, and shall overcome them (spiritually with materialism, false doctrine and the cares of this world), and kill them" (spiritually).
Isn’t that verse an accurate picture of the spiritual condition of the Church in the West today?
Luke 18:7-8 "And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"
