Hello PlainWord,
Respectfully, I have to say that I have not seen so much conjecture in place, at one time. How about this: the two witnesses are two men from God, the two olive branches and two lampstands that are before the Lord, who will be prophesying for 3 1/2 years in the streets of Jerusalem and will have power to bring plagues upon the earth as often as they want? When the beast comes up from the Abyss he will kill these two men, which will take place at the end of their 1,260 days (3 1/2 years) and their bodies will lie in the streets not allowing them to be buried. After 3 1/2 days, God will breath life into them (resurrection) and they will ascend up into heaven while the whole world watches on.
Respectfully, I have to say that I have not seen so much conjecture in place, at one time. How about this: the two witnesses are two men from God, the two olive branches and two lampstands that are before the Lord, who will be prophesying for 3 1/2 years in the streets of Jerusalem and will have power to bring plagues upon the earth as often as they want? When the beast comes up from the Abyss he will kill these two men, which will take place at the end of their 1,260 days (3 1/2 years) and their bodies will lie in the streets not allowing them to be buried. After 3 1/2 days, God will breath life into them (resurrection) and they will ascend up into heaven while the whole world watches on.
Please look at this verse:
[SUP]20 [/SUP]The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.
What does John tell you that a lampstand is in the above? Now read the below from Rev 11 used to describe the 2 witnesses:
[SUP]4 [/SUP]These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.
So we see that "LAMPSTANDS" are "CHURCHES." Pretty simple if you ask me.
The above is false, for there is not set formula for prophesy. I'm guessing that you are getting the above from when Peter said, "a day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day." What Peter said here was never meant to be used as a plumb-line for prophecy, but was meant to convey the Lord's patience, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Pet.3:8-9).
"And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which you searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years..." (Numbers 14:33,34a)
"Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year" (Ezekiel 4:4-6).
"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city ... from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks ... And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease..." (Daniel 9:24-27)
The fact that a day can signify a year is of crucial importance in the study of the bible numbers.
Steve Gregg in his parallel commentary on the four main Protestant views of Revelation lists a number of outstanding theologians who have held the "historicist" view. (The "historicist" regards the Book of Revelation as a survey of the whole of Church history. Personally, I find that all four views compliment one another.)
Concerning the historicist view, Gregg says: "A unique characteristic of this line of interpretation is its advocacy of what is called the "year-for-a-day principle."’" He lists the following among the adherents of the historicist view:
Steve Gregg in his parallel commentary on the four main Protestant views of Revelation lists a number of outstanding theologians who have held the "historicist" view. (The "historicist" regards the Book of Revelation as a survey of the whole of Church history. Personally, I find that all four views compliment one another.)
Concerning the historicist view, Gregg says: "A unique characteristic of this line of interpretation is its advocacy of what is called the "year-for-a-day principle."’" He lists the following among the adherents of the historicist view:
- "John Wycliffe, John Knox, William Tyndale, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, Phillip Melanchthon, Sir Isaac Newton, Jan Huss, John Foxe, John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Charles Finney, C. H. Spurgeon, Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke, Albert Barnes, E. B. Elliot, H. Grattan Guinness, and Bishop Thomas Newton." (S. Gregg, "Revelation: Four Views," Nashville: Thomas Nelson Pub, 1997, p. 34.)