The strategic timing of the start of the prophetic ministry of the Two Witnesses.
The Two Witnesses appear to start their ministries a few days before Antichrist’s image is set up in the Temple, and they warn of the terrible events that are about to overtake Israel and the world. In spite of innumerable attempts to kill them, their ministries continue for 1,260 days, until their death, a few days before the return of Jesus.
The conflict in Jerusalem between God's Two Witnesses and Satan's Antichrist and False Prophet, will be similar to the conflict that took place between Moses and Aaron, and Jannes and Jambres, Pharaoh's sorcerers. 2Tim 3v8,9, Exodus 7v11,12,22, 8v7,18,19. Prophesying against this kind of determined opposition by evil occultists, and the powers of darkness, demands great power and great spiritual gifts. God has in time past spoken to the Israelites by the prophets, and He will speak to them again in the great tribulation, through His two mighty Christian prophets, the Two Witnesses. Where it has been possible, God has usually sent His prophets in two's and three's, so that the truth and reliability of their prophecies could be confirmed out of the mouths of several trustworthy witnesses. 1Cor 14v29, Deut 19v15, Eccles 4v9-12, 2Kings 2v1,3. Isaiah, Hosea and Micah confirmed God's Word through each other, before the captivity; Haggai and Zechariah did the same, after the captivity.
God will give the ultimate in prophetic power and judgement gifts to His Two Witnesses.
God describes the Two Witnesses as two olive trees, to show that they are full of heavenly oil and that He pours His life and power through them. Rev 11v4, Zech 4 all, Mal 4v5. God likens them to two lamp stands, that shine brightly by their continuous manifestation of His power gifts. These Two Witnesses, like Elijah of old, stand in the presence of God in spirit, and operate in the fullness of His power for 1260 days. 1Kings 17v1. God commissions them to be prophets to Israel and the world. Their great ministries and godly lives stand out in sharp contrast to the evil lives of Antichrist and the False Prophet, who manifest Satan's power. They prophesy in sackcloth, the clothing of deepest mourning, to express their great sorrow over the gross evil around them, and by God’s gifts bring judgement on this evil. Those who God sends to pronounce great woes, must have the same sorrow of heart that He has, over the sin that makes those judgements unavoidable and necessary. Matt 23v37-39, Luke 19v41-44.
The Two Witnesses will manifest God's power gifts in judgement, fire will devour those who try to hurt or kill them. Like Elijah, they will stop the rain falling on Israel for the 1260 days of their ministry. Like Moses, they will turn water to blood, and smite the earth with every plague. However, God gives them authority to manifest judgement gifts, "as oft as they will," a striking new level of authority, for even Moses did not dispense plagues as he willed, he followed out God's orders. No one has manifested judgement gifts at their own will like these two prophets, but the circumstances of that time will demand this great power. However, even as Pharaoh and the Egyptians hardened their hearts in the face of God's power and judgements, so do Antichrist and his followers, and they refuse to repent of their evil deeds.
God allows the Two Witnesses to be killed to manifest a greater miracle
When the Two Witnesses have finished their testimony, God allows the Beast to kill them. Rev 11v7. This is the first of many references in Revelation where Antichrist is called “the Beast,” the Greek, “to therion,” speaks of a fierce wild animal. Antichrist is the last and worst ruler of a Satan dominated world system, which has always been ugly and beastly. Matt 4v8,9, Luke 4v5-7, John 14v30,18v36, Rev 11v15, 2Cor 4v4. In Rev 11v7, The Beast is said to arise out of the bottomless pit, or abyss, (“abussos,” it occurs in Luke 8v31, Rom 10v7, Rev 9v1,2,11, 11v7, 17v8, 20v1,3). This indicates that Antichrist will be raised from the dead, for to ascend out ofthe abyss, a person must have been dead, for it is God’s prison for the unconverted and evil spirits. Dan 11v29,30, Rev13v3,12, 17v8. This is the place to which unbelievers go to when they die, and it is the place to which our Lord went on His death, to purchase our redemption. Matt 12v39,40, Rom 10v7, Eph 4v8-10, Heb 2v14, 5v7, Isaiah 53v5,6,10-12.
It appears that God will allow Satan to openly resurrect Antichrist from the dead in a devilish parody of Christ's resurrection. It is after this resurrection that Antichrist comes to the fullness of his evil power. Satan has, of course, no control over the dead in Hades, Christ has the keys of Hades. Rev 1v18. Satan needs God’s permission to raise Antichrist from the dead, and it is this resurrection of Antichrist that causes many to follow him. God performs a greater sign when He raises the dead bodies of His Two Witnesses to life before the eyes of the whole watching world, after their mangled corpses have lain in the streets of Jerusalem for 3½ days. For these 3½ days, “they of the people and kindreds and tongue sand nations,” will rejoice over their death, elated that they can now continue in sin without the rebuke and judgement of these two mighty prophets. They deceive themselves into thinking, that because these two men of God are dead, that their God is dead also, and that they will escape the judgement of God, that these two prophets had warned them about.
After killing the Two Witnesses, Antichrist’s followers feel that they have won the final victory and have nothing to fear. How well this agrees with 1Thess 5v2,3, “the people will cry peace and safety,” but “sudden destruction will come upon them.” Judges 16v23-30, Jer 6v14. God raises His Two Witnesses from the dead and openly translates them to Heaven, and puts a stop to the godless revelling and rejoicing of the wicked. This is not the first resurrection and rapture, that occurs soon afterwards as Rev 11v14-18, states, at the seventh trumpet. Their resurrection is a personal resurrection, like that of Lazarus, or the daughter of Jairus, with the difference that it is done before the eyes of the whole world. The world's television cameras record the Two Witnesses being resurrected from the dead and taken to Heaven in triumph, a tremendous sign and warning to all of God's power and glory. John 11v41-46, Luke 8v51-56, Matt27v50-54, Acts 14v19,20.
The Two Witnesses are killed in Jerusalem, which God calls Sodom, Egypt, and Babylon.
The bodies of the Two Witnesses lie in the streets of Jerusalem, “the great city….where the Lord was crucified.” Rev 11v8. The phrase “the city, the great one,” “tes poleos tesmegales,” which is used in reference to “Babylon” in Rev 14v8, 16v19, 17v18,18v10,16,18,19,21, is here applied to the city of Jerusalem. In Rev 17 and 18, God calls Jerusalem Babylon,” and in Rev 11v8, says that Jerusalem would be better named as “Sodom” and “Egypt,” for its abominable wickedness and rebellion against God. This wickedness will bring about its destruction. One commentator writes the following: “Those who, like Alford, have decided that “the great city” is not Jerusalem but its spiritual antagonist, Rome or Babylon, find great difficulty in dealing with this plain statement:----The historical allusion is too definite to be thus explained away (i.e. as Rome or Babylon); it loses its whole point if it doesnot identify the place where the witnesses lose their lives with that where their Lord Himself was crucified, let those beware who feel that they know better than the Word of God.”
The great earthquake of Rev 11v13, takes place earlier than the even greater earthquake of Rev 11v19, which shakes the whole world, and occurs when the feet of Jesus touch the Mount of Olives. Rev 6v12,14,16v18-20, Zech 14v4,5. In the smaller earthquake a tenth of the city falls, and 7,000 men are slain, this brings some of the population to a state of fear and repentance. It certainly does not bring Antichrist and his armies to repentance, they fight Jesus at His return. Rev 19v19. It seems that Antichrist burns and sacks the city, because the resurrection of the Two Witnesses and the earthquake turn many to the Lord. Rev 17v16. The armies of Antichrist are around the stricken city when Jesus returns, they are the vultures surrounding the carcase of Jerusalem that our Lord spoke about in Matt 24v28 and Luke 17v37. When the seventh trumpet sounds, the Father and Son take over the rule of a shattered and shocked world, all the redeemed creation rejoice that the Lord has come to bring righteousness and peace to the world, and claim that which is rightfully His own. Isaiah 32v1,2,17,18. The earth and the heavens ring with triumphant Hallelujahs. Rev 19v1-6. Even so come Lord Jesus. Amen.
Yahweh Shalom
The Two Witnesses appear to start their ministries a few days before Antichrist’s image is set up in the Temple, and they warn of the terrible events that are about to overtake Israel and the world. In spite of innumerable attempts to kill them, their ministries continue for 1,260 days, until their death, a few days before the return of Jesus.
The conflict in Jerusalem between God's Two Witnesses and Satan's Antichrist and False Prophet, will be similar to the conflict that took place between Moses and Aaron, and Jannes and Jambres, Pharaoh's sorcerers. 2Tim 3v8,9, Exodus 7v11,12,22, 8v7,18,19. Prophesying against this kind of determined opposition by evil occultists, and the powers of darkness, demands great power and great spiritual gifts. God has in time past spoken to the Israelites by the prophets, and He will speak to them again in the great tribulation, through His two mighty Christian prophets, the Two Witnesses. Where it has been possible, God has usually sent His prophets in two's and three's, so that the truth and reliability of their prophecies could be confirmed out of the mouths of several trustworthy witnesses. 1Cor 14v29, Deut 19v15, Eccles 4v9-12, 2Kings 2v1,3. Isaiah, Hosea and Micah confirmed God's Word through each other, before the captivity; Haggai and Zechariah did the same, after the captivity.
God will give the ultimate in prophetic power and judgement gifts to His Two Witnesses.
God describes the Two Witnesses as two olive trees, to show that they are full of heavenly oil and that He pours His life and power through them. Rev 11v4, Zech 4 all, Mal 4v5. God likens them to two lamp stands, that shine brightly by their continuous manifestation of His power gifts. These Two Witnesses, like Elijah of old, stand in the presence of God in spirit, and operate in the fullness of His power for 1260 days. 1Kings 17v1. God commissions them to be prophets to Israel and the world. Their great ministries and godly lives stand out in sharp contrast to the evil lives of Antichrist and the False Prophet, who manifest Satan's power. They prophesy in sackcloth, the clothing of deepest mourning, to express their great sorrow over the gross evil around them, and by God’s gifts bring judgement on this evil. Those who God sends to pronounce great woes, must have the same sorrow of heart that He has, over the sin that makes those judgements unavoidable and necessary. Matt 23v37-39, Luke 19v41-44.
The Two Witnesses will manifest God's power gifts in judgement, fire will devour those who try to hurt or kill them. Like Elijah, they will stop the rain falling on Israel for the 1260 days of their ministry. Like Moses, they will turn water to blood, and smite the earth with every plague. However, God gives them authority to manifest judgement gifts, "as oft as they will," a striking new level of authority, for even Moses did not dispense plagues as he willed, he followed out God's orders. No one has manifested judgement gifts at their own will like these two prophets, but the circumstances of that time will demand this great power. However, even as Pharaoh and the Egyptians hardened their hearts in the face of God's power and judgements, so do Antichrist and his followers, and they refuse to repent of their evil deeds.
God allows the Two Witnesses to be killed to manifest a greater miracle
When the Two Witnesses have finished their testimony, God allows the Beast to kill them. Rev 11v7. This is the first of many references in Revelation where Antichrist is called “the Beast,” the Greek, “to therion,” speaks of a fierce wild animal. Antichrist is the last and worst ruler of a Satan dominated world system, which has always been ugly and beastly. Matt 4v8,9, Luke 4v5-7, John 14v30,18v36, Rev 11v15, 2Cor 4v4. In Rev 11v7, The Beast is said to arise out of the bottomless pit, or abyss, (“abussos,” it occurs in Luke 8v31, Rom 10v7, Rev 9v1,2,11, 11v7, 17v8, 20v1,3). This indicates that Antichrist will be raised from the dead, for to ascend out ofthe abyss, a person must have been dead, for it is God’s prison for the unconverted and evil spirits. Dan 11v29,30, Rev13v3,12, 17v8. This is the place to which unbelievers go to when they die, and it is the place to which our Lord went on His death, to purchase our redemption. Matt 12v39,40, Rom 10v7, Eph 4v8-10, Heb 2v14, 5v7, Isaiah 53v5,6,10-12.
It appears that God will allow Satan to openly resurrect Antichrist from the dead in a devilish parody of Christ's resurrection. It is after this resurrection that Antichrist comes to the fullness of his evil power. Satan has, of course, no control over the dead in Hades, Christ has the keys of Hades. Rev 1v18. Satan needs God’s permission to raise Antichrist from the dead, and it is this resurrection of Antichrist that causes many to follow him. God performs a greater sign when He raises the dead bodies of His Two Witnesses to life before the eyes of the whole watching world, after their mangled corpses have lain in the streets of Jerusalem for 3½ days. For these 3½ days, “they of the people and kindreds and tongue sand nations,” will rejoice over their death, elated that they can now continue in sin without the rebuke and judgement of these two mighty prophets. They deceive themselves into thinking, that because these two men of God are dead, that their God is dead also, and that they will escape the judgement of God, that these two prophets had warned them about.
After killing the Two Witnesses, Antichrist’s followers feel that they have won the final victory and have nothing to fear. How well this agrees with 1Thess 5v2,3, “the people will cry peace and safety,” but “sudden destruction will come upon them.” Judges 16v23-30, Jer 6v14. God raises His Two Witnesses from the dead and openly translates them to Heaven, and puts a stop to the godless revelling and rejoicing of the wicked. This is not the first resurrection and rapture, that occurs soon afterwards as Rev 11v14-18, states, at the seventh trumpet. Their resurrection is a personal resurrection, like that of Lazarus, or the daughter of Jairus, with the difference that it is done before the eyes of the whole world. The world's television cameras record the Two Witnesses being resurrected from the dead and taken to Heaven in triumph, a tremendous sign and warning to all of God's power and glory. John 11v41-46, Luke 8v51-56, Matt27v50-54, Acts 14v19,20.
The Two Witnesses are killed in Jerusalem, which God calls Sodom, Egypt, and Babylon.
The bodies of the Two Witnesses lie in the streets of Jerusalem, “the great city….where the Lord was crucified.” Rev 11v8. The phrase “the city, the great one,” “tes poleos tesmegales,” which is used in reference to “Babylon” in Rev 14v8, 16v19, 17v18,18v10,16,18,19,21, is here applied to the city of Jerusalem. In Rev 17 and 18, God calls Jerusalem Babylon,” and in Rev 11v8, says that Jerusalem would be better named as “Sodom” and “Egypt,” for its abominable wickedness and rebellion against God. This wickedness will bring about its destruction. One commentator writes the following: “Those who, like Alford, have decided that “the great city” is not Jerusalem but its spiritual antagonist, Rome or Babylon, find great difficulty in dealing with this plain statement:----The historical allusion is too definite to be thus explained away (i.e. as Rome or Babylon); it loses its whole point if it doesnot identify the place where the witnesses lose their lives with that where their Lord Himself was crucified, let those beware who feel that they know better than the Word of God.”
The great earthquake of Rev 11v13, takes place earlier than the even greater earthquake of Rev 11v19, which shakes the whole world, and occurs when the feet of Jesus touch the Mount of Olives. Rev 6v12,14,16v18-20, Zech 14v4,5. In the smaller earthquake a tenth of the city falls, and 7,000 men are slain, this brings some of the population to a state of fear and repentance. It certainly does not bring Antichrist and his armies to repentance, they fight Jesus at His return. Rev 19v19. It seems that Antichrist burns and sacks the city, because the resurrection of the Two Witnesses and the earthquake turn many to the Lord. Rev 17v16. The armies of Antichrist are around the stricken city when Jesus returns, they are the vultures surrounding the carcase of Jerusalem that our Lord spoke about in Matt 24v28 and Luke 17v37. When the seventh trumpet sounds, the Father and Son take over the rule of a shattered and shocked world, all the redeemed creation rejoice that the Lord has come to bring righteousness and peace to the world, and claim that which is rightfully His own. Isaiah 32v1,2,17,18. The earth and the heavens ring with triumphant Hallelujahs. Rev 19v1-6. Even so come Lord Jesus. Amen.
Yahweh Shalom