Revelation Chapter 11
The
eleventh chapter of the book of Revelation is one of the most debated in the
entire book. The identity of the two witnesses is something that has been haggled
over by many men much wiser than me. In this post I intend to explain who these
two men are, it seems pretty simple to me, and what their job will be.
Beginning
in verse three we are introduced to these two witnesses. The bible teaches that
they are to prophesy for 1,260 days. Doing the math that is equal to 42 months
or 3 ½ years. These men will therefore prophesy for the last 3 ½ years of the tribulation
period, commonly referred to as the “great tribulation.”
When
these two men come, they prophesy of the coming judgment of God. In the Bible sackcloth and ashes
always spoke of repentance, and that is exactly what God is demanding.
The big question is "Who
are these two witnesses?" Well let me first say that these two witnesses
are men. They are not systems, churches or a body of witnesses. These two are
said to prophesy in sackcloth, which cannot be said for a system or church.
Elijah
Firstly we are told that
these two have power to shut up heaven so that it does not rain during the days
of their prophecy. I believe that this therefore can refer to none other than
Elijah. Elijah had power to shut up heaven so that it did not rain in the days
of Ahab. And you can guess how long he shut up heaven. That's right 3 1/2 years
according to I Kings 17:1. This is the same length of time that these
two witnesses are to prophesy.
“Elijah was a man subject to
like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it
rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.” James 5:17
This is nothing new. It is simply a repeat
performance for Elijah. You will remember the first time Elijah shut heaven was
for the purpose of proving who was God. Elijah and the prophets of Baal had a
contest to prove who was God. Was Jehovah God or was Baal god. The same is true
during this time. Who is God? Is Jehovah God or is Antichrist god?
The prophet Malachi also prophesied and told
of the second coming of Elijah.
“Behold, I will send my
messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek,
shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye
delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.” Mal. 3:1
“Behold, I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
LORD:” Mal. 4:5
Many say that the prophecy of
Elijah was fulfilled in John the Baptist, so let us talk about that. It is very
clear that since the prophet Malachi said that Elijah would come just before
the "great and dreadful day of the Lord." John the Baptist did not
fulfill this prophecy.
When John came we know that
he preached the first coming of Jesus Christ, but after his preaching there was
no great and dreadful day of the Lord. Therefore this coming of Elijah must
still yet be future. The great and dreadful day of the Lord will follow the prophecy
of these two witnesses.
Further proof that John was
not Elijah is found by the words of John himself. When the Jews came to John
they ask him "Who art thou?" As we see in the scriptures John
confessed - "I am not the Christ." And then they asked him, "What
then? Art thou Elijah?" And he said - "I am not." It
is clear from John's answer to these questions that he was not Elijah.
According to Malachi's
prophecy Elijah is to come and fulfill all things. This John did not do. This
makes it abundantly clear that Elijah is yet to come. Elijah is to come just
before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Elijah will be one of the two
witnesses and just as in the days of Ahab the king Elijah will shut up heaven
and will not allow it to rain for 3 1/2 years.
Moses
Many say that Enoch will be
the other witness. They say this because he was translated and did not die,
like Elijah. They say that since he did not die he must come to earth so he can
then die.
They say it could not be
someone else who had already died. This is not good proof however, for if
Lazarus could be raised from the dead and then die again then why could not
someone else?
I believe the second witness
will be Moses. The Bible tells us that these witnesses are to do two things.
One they are to shut up heaven and not allow it to rain, and second they are to
have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to smite the earth with
plagues as often as they want.
We know from the scripture
that Moses is the one that God allowed to turn the water to blood and smite
Egypt with plagues. We are not told that Enoch had such power. These two
witnesses will be Moses and Elijah.
It is worth noting that the title
of these two is "my two
witnesses." This seems to imply that the job of these two is witnessing.
If you will recall on the Mount of Transfiguration there were two men that
witnessed.
“And,
behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him.” Matthew 17:3
There were also two men
(angels) that witnessed at the tomb of Christ to the women who came to anoint
the body of Christ. They told the women that Jesus was risen. There was two men
that witnessed to the Galilean crowd gathered watching Jesus ascend into heaven
in the book of Acts. In all three occasions the men were clothed in shining
garments. These men may very well have been Moses and Elijah. It seems that God
has chosen them for the purpose of witnessing. Why not allow them to do what
they have done on other occasions, witness?
The job to be done
These two witnesses are to
prophesy for 3 1/2 years and we are told that during that time they will be
immune to death. In fact if any man tries to harm them, the Bible says that
fire will proceed out of their mouth and devour their enemies. Can you imagine
large crowds gather around to hear these two men preach? From out of the crowd
someone attempts to attack the witnesses, but before they can harm the
witnesses fire comes from their mouths and devours them. I wonder how CNN will
spin this.
While they are immune to
death for 3 ½ years the scripture is clear that they will eventually be killed.
When they have finished their work of prophesying the beast will overcome them,
will kill them, and will leave them laying dead in the street for three days.
We are told that the
Antichrist will make war with them and will kill them. Their dead bodies will
lie in the streets for three and one half days. In these days Jerusalem will be
called Sodom and Egypt because their character will be like that of Sodom in
the days of Lot and Egypt in the days of Moses.
When these men die, the Bible
says that they will not suffer their bodies to be buried. They will rejoice
over them and send gifts to one another. The reason they are so happy is that
these two men tormented them day and night by plagues and their testimony.
These people will think that because they killed these men they also killed the
law of God and therefore they cannot be punished for their sins.
No doubt this victory over
the two witnesses will give Antichrist the added courage he needs to make war
with Christ. If he can kill God’s witnesses he will feel like he can kill God himself.
The peoples rejoicing will be
short lived. For at the end of three days and a half the spirit of life will
come into these men and they will stand upon their feet and great fear shall be
upon their enemies. A voice from heaven will be heard saying, "Come up
hither" and they will be caught up into heaven in a cloud.
At this same time there will
be an earthquake and a tenth part of the city will be destroyed and 7,000 of
its inhabitants will die. The people will repent, but their repentance is short
lived, like that of Pharaoh in the days of the Egyptian plagues.
The chapter ends with the
blowing of the seventh trumpet. When this trumpet blows the earth will tremble and
shake like it did when the seventh seal was broken, and like it will do when
the seventh vial of judgment is poured out.
If you would like to watch this lesson taught live click the link:
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